PLANTS AND ANIMALS 



69 



relation to the catching of insects than the Butterworts, though 

 the means employed are essentially the same. Our native forms, 

 the Sundews (species of Drosera), are fairly common in marshy 

 places, and are often found growing side by side with the Butter- 

 wort. Here, again, the leaves are arranged in a rosette, from the 

 centre of which rises a stem bearing a number of small flowers. 

 The end of each leaf is thickly studded with long reddish 

 "tentacles", shaped something like pins, upon the heads of which 

 are little drops of sticky fluid that glisten like dew (fig. 1065). 

 Should an unfortunate insect alight on one 

 or more of these tentacles it sticks fast, other 



Fig. 1065. The Sundew (Drosera}. i, Tip of a tentacle, greatly enlarged, showing viscid secretion. 2, 3, 4, Leaves, 

 enlarged, showing tentacles fully extended, partly approximated, and entirely approximated. 



tentacles bend towards it, there is an increased flow of the diges- 

 tive juice, and the final result is the same as in a Butterwort. 



Venus' Fly -Trap (Dionaa muscipula), growing on marshy 

 ground in the east of the United States, is a near relative of our 

 Sundews, but its " traps " are much more elaborate (fig. 1066). 

 The end of each leaf is divided into halves which can move 

 towards each other almost as on a hinge, while their edges are 

 fringed with bristles. The upper side of each half is studded 

 with small violet hairs, which secrete a digestive fluid, and three 

 large sensitive hairs project from its centre. If an insect happens 

 to visit one of these leaves, and touches one or more of the six 

 sensitive hairs, the result is somewhat dramatic. For the halves 

 of the leaf close rapidly together, the bristles on their edges inter- 



