QUEKETT MICKOSCOPICAL CLUB. 51 



dential address. Mr. Grundy then read a paper by Mr. E. M. 



Nelson on " A New Form of Polariser." 



' The thanks of the meeting were accorded to Mr. Nelson for 



his paper and to Mr. Grundy for reading it. 

 Dr. J. Rudd Leeson, M.D., F.L.S,, then gave an address on 



" Flesh-eating Plants." Dr. Leeson said that when he was a 



small boy his nurse told him that animals were divided into 

 three groups : birds, beasts and fishes, and this system of 

 classification lasted until he found there were worms. Later 

 on he was told that plants lived on CO2, and that animals lived 

 on plants, and then he found that there were some plants that 

 lived on animals, and was again in difficulties. We cannot 

 classify, Dr. Leeson said, except in ignorance. The difference 

 between one living thing and another is caused by the specific 

 character of the protoplasm. Protoplasm must have nitrogen, 

 and there are some plants living in non-nitrogenous soils, such 

 as on rocks or in bogs, that have taken to catching insects and 

 other animals in order to supply themselves with this indispen- 

 sable food-substance. There are about 500 flesh-eating plants, 

 and they may be divided into three groups according as they 

 capture their prey : (1) by means of chambers or traps ; (2) by 

 means of movements ; (3) by a sticky excretion. Many examples 

 may be seen at Kew. The pitcher- plants have developed 

 pitchers, often provided with a cover on which honey is secreted, 

 and a brightly coloured rim, which serves to attract insects. 

 Once inside, and being unable to climb out owing to a row of 

 teeth below the margin, they make futile attempts to escape 

 through the semi-transparent wall and eventually fall into the 

 water at the bottom of the pitcher and are drowned, their bodies 

 being digested by the pepsin from the digestive glands and 

 absorbed by special hairs or cells. The same thing happens in 

 the case of the bladderwort. The bladders look remarkably 

 like large water-fleas, and the entomostracans and other water 

 creatures, having pushed their way in, find a trap-door has 

 shut behind them, and, their way of escape closed, they 

 are soon suffocated, digested and absorbed. The leaf of the 

 butterwort is covered with digestive and absorbent hairs, and 

 insects stick to its surface. If an insect alights near the edge of 

 the leaf there is a curling of the margin, which pushes it farther 

 on, so that it is soon overwhelmed by the digestive juice which 



