THE CLEVERNESS OF THE SUNDEW 



833 



A FLY CAUGHT BY A SUNDEW LEAF (GREATLY MAGNIFIED). 



writer, Mrs. Mary Trent, who first dis- 

 covered that the leav^es of this plant 

 appear to possess a sort of instinct which 

 warns them as to the whereabouts of food. 

 She found that a Sundew leaf would move 

 in the direction of an insect which was 

 placed at some distance from it. In 

 order to verify this record, the present 

 writer attached a minute portion of raw 

 meat, by means of a hair, to a large- 

 sized needle. This needle he stuck into 

 the soil close to a young but fully 

 developed Sundew leaf, which formed part 

 of a healthy plant growing in a saucer. 

 The first of the three photographs re- 

 produced on page 832 illustrates the 

 preliminary stage of the experiment. 

 Subsequently, at forty-minute intervals, 

 the other photographs were taken. These 

 show plainly the manner in which the 

 proximity of the meat influenced the 

 Sundew leaf. In the second photograph 

 of the series the leaf -stalk is bent towards 

 the meat, and many of the red hairs are 

 also stretching in that direction. In the 

 third photograph the bend of the stalk 

 106 



is still more marked, while several of the 

 hairs are in actual contact with the bait. 

 Unfortunatelv. the leaf had been too 

 severely tested. It never quite succeeded 

 in digesting the meal which it had tried 

 so hard to win for itself. This. I think, 

 was because the bait had been set up in 

 such a position that actually to grasp it 

 the leaf would have had to bend over 

 the axis of the plant. Should the reader 

 wish to repeat the experiment here de- 

 scribed, he should so arrange the meat 

 that the Sundew leaf will be able to reach 

 it without having to bend its stalk unduly. 

 A healthy Sundew plant, transferred 

 from its marshy home to a saucer, will 

 thrive well enough provided that it is 

 kept thoroughlv moist and exposed to 

 the sunhght. "indeed, if it is covered 

 with a bell-glass, so that the air amund 

 it is kept saturated with moisture, the 

 plant will rapidly send up new leaves 

 and flower spikes. Such a " captive Sun- 

 dew " will afford hmitless op])()rtunities 

 for observation and experiment. What 

 has already been affirmed by various 



