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THE BOOK OF NATURE STUDY 



covered with delicate red hairy-looking filaments, generally 

 called tentacles. Botanically, they are described as " emergences.'* 

 One hardly ever gets tired of watching these filaments curl up 

 when touched ; they serve to entangle the insect. At the ex- 

 tremity of each there is a gland which secretes a juice containing 

 an acid that digests the nitrogenous substances present in the 

 body of the insect. The leaves of butterwort are thickly covered 



with glandular hairs ; it is said that 

 the eight rosette leaves of one 

 plant have as many as 500,000 of 

 such hairs. These aid in the cap- 

 ture of the insect, and the fluid 

 they secrete, in digesting it. The 

 bladders situated on the leaves of 

 Bladderwort are also covered with 

 hairs. 



IN DRAINING OFF WATER. The 

 bud-scales of winter buds often 

 bear delicate hairs at their edges. 

 These help to direct the current of 

 water down the bud and thus pre- 

 vent its reaching the delicate inner 

 leaves, which would rot unless 

 they could be protected from the 

 cold rain of winter. The stipules 

 of the Oak or of the Beech should 

 be examined in spring, when the 

 bud opens and the fringe of hairs 

 will be easily seen. 

 A very interesting arrangement of hairs occurs on the stems 

 of Stellaria media (Common Chickweed). The plant is for the 

 most part smooth, but there is a line of hairs running down the 

 side of the stem which is opposite the flower. The leaves 

 are opposite, and their bases form a cup ; the edges of the 

 leaf -stalks are also fringed with long hairs. It is thought 

 that the line of hairs on each internode serves to conduct the 

 water from the cup above to the one beneath. It should be 



FIG. 41. Chickweed (Stellaria media\ 

 showing hairs which drain off 

 water. 



