surprising and wonderful than the 

 carnivora or insectivorous plants which 

 are fairly plentiful through the United 

 States, but very much less conspic- 

 uous in appearance than their numer- 

 ous relatives of the tropics. However, 

 with his ample opportunities for ex- 

 ploration and experimentation in all 

 countries, it is to the little Sundew (Dro- 

 sera rotundifolia) of our swamps and low 

 lands, that Charles R. Darwin has de- 

 voted a monograph of nearly three hun- 

 dred pages, all of which contain interest- 

 ing subject matter relating to the con- 

 struction, habits, attributes and manifes- 

 tations of this little, humble dweller of 

 the moist lands. 



You would never dream, when you 

 are first made acquainted with the "per- 

 sonnel" of this unobtrusive little gour- 

 mand, that therein did lurk such mur- 

 derous proclivities, for it is an innocent 

 appearing vegetable growth, but which 

 really has no respect for the omnipotent 

 command of "thou shalt not kill." It 

 consists of a bunch of somewhat oval 

 leaves, five or six in number, forming a 

 sort of silvery, pubescent rosette, peep- 

 ing out of the tall swamp grasses. But 

 oh, the insidiousness of the little hypo- 

 crite, whose every motion is freighted 

 with death to the tiny winged hosts, who 

 note not the fatality of the seductive, 

 glistening drops of honey-dew displayed 

 to their undoing. 



There seems to be really more than 

 the usual physical force of average vege- 

 tation evinced by the tiny, round leaves, 

 which are not more than three-fourths 

 of an inch in diameter, and their man- 

 ners and methods of securing their nutri- 

 tion form one of the most interesting 

 studies of the out-door world. There 

 are usually numberless dead insects scat- 

 tered about the little plants in witness of 

 their death dealing propensities, but for 

 a satisfactory understanding of their sub- 

 tle methods of procedure, it is better to 

 insinuate oneself into some comfortable 

 position in the proximity of one of the 

 sundews, where one can observe them at 

 leisure, though a questionable form of 

 enjoyment perhaps, for it is anything but 

 amusing to the insect "game" that are 

 caught in their net, from which but a 

 small part have the strength to escape. 



The Sundew leaf is covered with what 

 are called gland bearing filaments, which 

 look not unlike little hairs, and of a red- 

 dish color changing to a purplish blue at 

 and tips, which thickly cover the leaf, 

 sometimes to the number of two or three 

 hundred upon one surface. A tempting 

 drop of a white liquid which resembles 

 honey or dew is exud'ed by these gland- 

 ular hairs, and from which the plant de- 

 rives its common title of Sundew, as its 

 "dew" does not disappear in the sun's 

 rays, and is a drop which proves a temp- 

 tation and a snare to the insect world 

 who are drifting about in search of 

 liquid sweets. When the victim once, 

 alights on a leaf, his fate, unless he be of 

 mighty strength, is determined, for the 

 deceptive looking drop is of the nature 

 of glue, and his tiny feet are held as if 

 in a vise, while the innocent looking 

 hairs or tentacles slowly bend over him 

 one by one, exuding more glue and com- 

 pletely enveloping him in their octopus- 

 like embrace, at the same time insidious- 

 ly rolling him toward the center of the 

 leaf, which also gradually coils in or 

 over the victim, and forms a sort of 

 cavity not unlike a temporary stomach, 

 and at the same time moistening him 

 with a saliva-like fluid which is proven 

 by chemical analysis to be of the same 

 nature as the gastric juices employed in 

 animal digestion. Following this tragi- 

 cal episode comes the operation of actual 

 digestion, the period of which is deter- 

 mined by the age of the leaf and the 

 structure of the insect, whom death us- 

 ually relieves in about fifteen minutes 

 after capture, but it takes from twenty- 

 four hours to five days for complete as- 

 similation, and the opening of the leaf 

 and tentacles for further capture. 



The Sundew will accept a luncheon of 

 dead flies if nothing better presents itself, 

 or even a bit of beefsteak or decoction 

 of boiled cabbage will set its numerous 

 teeth in operation, but a living creature 

 is more quickly absorbed by its process 

 of benevolent assimilation, for its strug- 

 gles for liberty stimulate the glands to a 

 greater activity, and if the game is likely 

 to prove too powerful for the immediate 

 tentacles, outlying glands will reach for- 

 ward to assist in the capture, and in ex- 

 tremes, even separate leaves have been 



43 



