290 DARWINIAN A. 



scale to be manifestly either animal or plant, unless it 

 may be said of some of them that they are each in 

 turn and neither long. There are undoubted animals 

 which produce the essential material of vegetable 

 fabric, or build up a part of their structure of it, or 

 elaborate the characteristic leaf-green which, under 

 solar light, assimilates inorganic into organic matter, 

 the most distinguishing function of vegetation. On 

 the other hand, there are plants microscopic, indeed, 

 but unquestionable which move spontaneously and 

 freely around and among animals that are fixed and 

 rooted. And, to come without further parley to the 

 matter in hand, while the majority of animals feed 

 directly upon plants, " for 'tis their nature to," there 

 are plants which turn the tables and feed upon them. 

 Some, being parasitic upon living animals, feed insidi- 

 ously and furtively ; these, although really cases in 

 point, are not so extraordinary, and, as they belong 

 to the lower orders, they are not much regarded, ex- 

 cept for the harm they do. There are others, and 

 those of the highest orders, which lure or entrap ani- 

 mals in ways which may well excite our special won- 

 der all the more so since we are now led to conclude 

 that they not only capture but consume their prey. 



As respects the two or three most notable in- 

 stances, the conclusions which have been reached are 

 among the very recent acquisitions of physiological 

 science. Curiously enough, however, now that they 

 are made out, it appears that they were in good part 

 long ago attained, recorded, and mainly forgotten. 

 The earlier observations and surmises shared the com- 

 mon fate of discoveries made before the time, or by 



