THE MICROSCOPE AND PLANT LIFE 



inwards, and if we look below the curled portion 

 we shall surely find some captured insects under- 

 going digestion. The leaf of this plant makes an 

 interesting object for the microscope. There are 

 two kinds of hairs on its surface, short stout ones 

 and longer knobbed ones; the former give off a 

 sticky liquid which holds any small insects that 

 touch it, the latter give off digestive juices. While 

 the hairs are used in digestion, after the manner of 

 those of Sundew, the leaf itself curls so that more 

 of the hairs are brought into contact with the victim 

 and thereby its digestion is hastened. 



Many small flowers may be examined with low 

 magnifications. When we examine them thus, we 

 shall probably realise for the first time how beautiful 

 are many of these seemingly inconspicuous blossoms. 

 Grass flowers are always interesting; they are not 

 ornamental it is true, but that does not detract 

 from their interest. There is one part of each 

 flower known as the stigma ; it is the part on which 

 the pollen grain must be placed in order that seeds 

 may be formed. The pollen grains are taken to the 

 stigmas in many ways, but the most usual agencies 

 are insects and wind. In the case of grasses, wind 

 is the agency and for that reason the stigmas of 

 grass flowers are feathery, so that they can easily 

 hold the pollen grains carried to them by the 

 lightest breeze. We shall probably see many pollen 

 grains entangled in the feathery stigma of the 

 flower we are examining. In the flowers of other 

 plants we shall find, when we magnify them, that 



106 



