July 21, 1893.] 



SCIENCE. 



37 



An instance of stream capture possessing all the " ear marks" 

 of the typical case, is found in the Appalachian region of western 

 North Carolina and within a few miles of Asheville. Among the 

 principal streams traversing this elevated plateau region, are the 

 Pigeon River and the French Broad, which take their rise on the 

 broad back of the Blue Ridge, and, flowing westward, make their 

 -way through deep gorges in the Unaka Mountains, whence they 

 descend into the broad, deep valley of eastern Tennessee. At one 

 point, a northward turn of the Pigeon brings it within a dozen miles 

 of the French Broad. Here, within half a mile of the former, and 

 at an appreciably lower level, Hominy Creek takes it rise, and 

 maintains a rapid, torrential course eastward, joining the French 

 Broad at Asheville. A low and narrow divide separates this 

 young and active stream from the slower moving Pigeon. 

 Reckoning from this low divide, the fall of the smaller stream, 

 within the first three miles, is more than three hundred feet, 

 while an equal distance on Pigeon River yields a difference of level 

 of only a little more than one hundred feet. 



Here then are conditions favoring the lengthening of one stream 



Its 10 to 25 leaves of a reddish color and semi-transparent tex- 

 ture are all radical, forming a tuft or rosette generally not more 

 than two or three inches in diameter, from the centre of which 

 during the months of April and May it sends up a single flower 

 stalk or scape 6 to 10 inches high, and bearing at its summit a 

 one-sided raceme of light rose-colored flowers 4 to 5 twelfths of 

 an inch in diameter. Its oval seeds, when seen thr.iu^h a 

 microscope, are finely furrov/ed and covered with small granules 

 arranged with perfect regularity. 



The spatulate leaves are narrowed into a long leafstalk or 

 petiole, the wide portion less than one-half inch in length and 

 one-half as wide. 



It is known to botanists as Drosera capillaris, and has the 

 usual characteristics of the order Droseiacese. 



The leaves are circinate in the bud, that is, rolled up from the 

 apex towards the base, after the manner of ferns. The upper 

 surface is covered with somewhat fleshy, reddish filaments less 

 than one millimetre in length in the centre of the leaf and 

 gradually increasing to the length of 4 or 5 millimetres on the 



/ '^ N. C. 



■with loss of territory by the other, and such has clearly taken 

 place. The accompanying map is traced from the topographic map 

 of the region made by the U. S. Geological Survey (Asheville 

 sheet). It will be at once noticed that the branching headwater 

 tributaries of Hominy Creek, instead of flowing with an easterly 

 course like those which enter lower down, have a distinctly back- 

 set position like the barbs of an arrow. A visit to the region 

 would leave little room for doubt that these were once tributary 

 to Pigeon River. The arrangement of the contours shows, in 

 fact, a depression which may mark their former course over what 

 now constitutes the divide. 



INSECTIVOROUS PLANTS OF SOUTH FLORIDA. 



BT G. W. WEBSTEE, LAKE HELEN, FLA. 



As one approaches the moist grounds bordering on the lakes 

 and ponds so numerous in south Florida, a beautiful plant is 

 often found that, while it attracts the attention of the ordinary 

 observor, is especially interesting to the student of natural his- 

 tory. 



border. These filaments or tentacles are about 300 in number on 

 each leaf, and each bears at its summit a gland which secretes a 

 drop of perfectly transparent, viscid substance that glitters in the 

 sunlight like a brilliant dewdrop, hence the common name of 

 sundew. 



This secretion is very adhesive, and whenever any small insect 

 attracted by the brilliant color of the plant, the prospect of a sip 

 of dew or from any other cause, alights upon the plant, it im- 

 mediately becomes entangled in the treacherous substance. The 

 tentacles of the outer border of the leaf, which were before curved 

 backward, now slowly but surely begin to curve inward, carry- 

 ing the victim toward the centre of the leaf, and enfolding it 

 closely from every side. At the same time the secretion from the 

 glands is greatly increased, drowning or smothering the insect. 

 The leaf also slowly assumes a more cup-like shape and rolls 

 back from the apex toward the centre of the plant and finally 

 holds its victim in a close embrace, with the 200 glands pressed 

 down upon it, bathing it in their secretion, which has now 

 changed to acid and become capable of dissolving and digest- 

 ing the soluble parts. These are taken into the circulation 



