88 LETTER XXXIV. 



the nurseries, place it among bog-moss in a green- 

 house, and cover it with a bell-glass, keeping it con- 

 stantly damp. In this manner you may secure for 

 a year or two one of the most curious examples of 

 irritability which the vegetable world contains ; and 



their bases. Each portion of the leaf is a little concave on the inner 

 side, where are placed three delicate, hair-like organs, in such an order 

 that an insect can hardly traverse it, without interfering with one of 

 them, when the two sides suddenly collapse and enclose their prey, with 

 a force surpassing an insect's attempts to escape. The fringe or hairs of 

 the opposite sides interlace, like the fingers of the two hands clasped 

 together. The sensitiveness resides only in these hair-like processes on 

 the inside, as the leaf may be touched or pressed in any other part, with- 

 out sensible effects. The little prisoner is not crushed and suddenly 

 destroyed, as is sometimes supposed, for I have often liberated captive 

 flies and spiders, which sped away as fast as fear or joy could hasten 

 them. At other times, I have found them enveloped in a fluid of muci- 

 laginous consistence, which seems to act as a solvent, the insects being 

 more or less consumed by it. This circumstance has suggested the 

 possibility of the insects being made subservient to the nourishment of 

 the plant, through an apparatus of absorbent vessels in the leaves. But 

 as I have not examined sufficiently to pronounce on the universality of 

 this result, it will require further observation and experiment on the spot 

 to ascertain its nature and importance. 



" It is not to be supposed, however, that such food is necessary to 

 the existence of the plant, though, like compost, it may increase its 

 growth and vigour. But however obscure and uncertain may be the 

 final purpose of such a singular organization, if it were a problem to 

 construct a plant with reference to entrapping insects, I cannot conceive 

 of a form and organization better adapted to secure that end, than are 

 found in the Dioneea muscipula. I therefore deem it no credulous 

 inference, that its leaves are constructed for that specific object, whether 

 insects subserve the purpose of nourishment to the plant or not. It is 

 no objection to this view, that they are subject to blind accident, and 

 sometimes close upon straws, as wells as insects. It would be a curious 



