82 LETTER XXXIII. 



few short months. Let her, however, be sought for 

 by all means, and she will richly reward you for 

 any trouble you may take in procuring her. When 

 she is in your possession, plant her among some 

 bog-moss in a saucer or deep dish, place over her a bell- 

 glass, pour water into the dish till it rises above the 

 rim of the glass, then expose her to the full rays of 

 the sun, and you will have done all that art can effect 

 to secure her. 



The structure of Drosera is the following, if you 

 take the Round-leaved (Drosera rotundifolia), which 

 is the commonest species, as an example. In this 

 plant the most remarkable part is the leaves, and the 

 least remarkable the fructification. The former are 

 nearly round, and grow upon long hairy stalks ; they 

 are at first folded up in such a manner that they look 

 something like little green hoods {Plate XXXIII. 2. 

 Jig. 1, a.), but they afterwards spread out into small 

 concave disks, covered over with long, shining, red 

 hairs, that secrete from their point a clear fluid, which 

 gives the leaves the appearance of being covered with 

 dew-drops. Real dew is, you know, always dispersed and 

 dried up by the heat of the sun, so that it is only at the 

 earliest hours of the morning that it can be seen in the 

 summer ; but the glittering dew-like secretion with 

 which the leaves of this plant are bespangled is most 

 abundant when the sun is at his highest, and hence it 

 has acquired its popular name of Sun-dew ; as if the 

 particles of water which cause the leaves to sparkle 

 were really dew, condensed by the sun's rays. 



The apparatus by means of which the moisture is 



