138 COLIN CLOUT'S CALENDAR. 



As soon as the fragment of meat is placed upon the 

 leaf, the clubbed ends of the glandular tentacles hold it 

 fast by their sticky secretion, and the other tentacles 

 around bend over to enclose it, exactly as the arms of a 

 polyp sweep together to catch their floating prey. If 

 you put a dead innutritious object on the blade, the 

 glands bend over at first, but shortly relax again ; when 

 the object is a living fly, however, they clasp it tightly, 

 and the more it struggles the more it excites the sur- 

 rounding tentacles to close over it and hem it in 

 securely. There it is gradually dissolved and digested, 

 its juices going to supply the plant with materials for 

 the production of its flower and seed. 



The butterwort is a less savagely insectivorous crea- 

 ture than the sundew ; yet its taste for fresh meat is 

 almost as indubitable as that of its cruel red-leaved 

 neighbour. Its foliage is pale hoary green, covered 

 with little crystalline-looking white dots, which produce 

 an abundant viscid fluid, easily drawn out into long 

 threads by the touch of a finger. When an insect lights 

 upon it, his legs are clogged by the fluid ; and the edge 

 of the leaf then curls slowly inward, so as to push him 

 into the centre of the blade, where the digestive power 

 seems to be strongest. But what is most interesting of 

 all about the butterwort is the fact that it is peculiarly 

 adapted for attracting insects from two distinct points 

 of view for food, and as fertilisers. While it lays itself 

 out to catch and eat miscellaneous small flies with its 

 gummy leaves, it also lays itself out to allure bees with 

 its comparatively large and handsome blue mask-shaped 

 flowers. It has a deep spur behind each blossom, which 

 secretes a big drop of clear honey : while its irregular 



