76 BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 



tions as to missing links being supplied with increased knowledge 

 of the geological record, and in connection with his work on the 

 fertilization of orchids, we have a remarkable instance of similar 

 verification. The nectaries of Angrcecum sesquipedale were found 

 by him to sometimes reach n^ inches in length, with only the 

 lowest i y^, inches filled with nectar. He said " there must be moths 

 with probosces capable of extension to a length of between 10 and 

 ii inches." In Nature for July 17, 1873, or some years later, Fritz 

 Muller recorded, through his brother, Herman Muller, the finding 

 of a Brazilian Sphingid having a length of proboscis of o. 25 meters, 

 or between 10 and 11 inches. 



I cannot do justice to Darwin's work on Insectivorous Plants 

 within the time to which these remarks have been limited, nor with- 

 out trenching on the ground to be covered by Prof. Ward. I must 

 be content to remark, therefore, that he demonstrated the new and 

 wonderful fact in physiology that many plants are capable of ab- 

 sorbing soluble matter from captured insects, and that they have 

 special contrivances and sensibilities that facilitate the capture of 

 their prey : in other words, that plants actually capture and digest 

 animal food; for the secretion of Drosera, and other insectivorous 

 plants, with its ferment acid belonging to the acetic series, resembles 

 the gastric juice of animals with its pepsin and hydrocloric acid. 

 The fact of absorption demonstrated, it follows that the process 

 would prove serviceable to plants growing in very poor soil, and 

 that it would tend to be perfected by natural selection. 



The pleasure Darwin took in observing the habits and ways of 

 insects, and the simple and lucid manner in which he recorded his 

 observations are frequently exemplified in his Journal of Researches, 

 and his account of sundry Brazilian species on page 35, and fol- 

 lowing, may be consulted as an example. 



In the same way that he has influenced all lines of thought and 

 investigation, he has influenced entomology. We find everywhere, 

 in his treatment of insects, the same acute perception, the same 

 candor and impartiality, the same clearness of expression, the same 



