EEPORTB FEOM THE SECTIONS. 299 



NOTES ON TWO SPECIES OE INSECTIVOEOUS PLANTS 

 INDIG-ENOUS TO THIS COLONY. 



Bx J. U. C. Colter. 



[_Read before the Microscopical Section of tJie Royal Society of N.S.W.} 



24 November, 1876.] 



Oi^ August 28tli, 1874, a most interesting address was delivered 

 by Dr. Hooker at the British Association in Belfast, Ireland, 

 on the subject of Insectivorous Plants, and more especially 

 with reference to that known as Dioncea muscipula (Venus's Ely- 

 trap). So great was the interest taken at the time on this subject 

 of vegetable carnivora, that illustrations appeared in the 

 QrapJiic of plants possessing this peculiar property, and grown 

 in the Eoyal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Since then my attention 

 has been directed towards certain plants indigenous to this 

 country, belonging to the order of Droseraca or " Sun-dews" and 

 more particularly to the Drosera spathulata, and Drosera hinata, 

 specimens of which I now beg to place before this meeting. 



They are both found in marshy or swampy ground near Sydney, 

 and are attractive to the eye by the numerous sparkling minute 

 drops of clear fluid, like dew, adhering to the long slender 

 filaments by which the edge and upper surface of the leaves are 

 surrounded. 



On warm days this peculiarity seems to be greater, or in no 

 way decreased, as might naturally be supposed, by the extreme 

 heat of a mid-day sun. 



This fluid is of a glutinous nature, forming an attraction to 

 flies and other insects, all of which find certain death, when once 

 they alight on either the mid-rib of the frond of Drosera hinata, 

 or are entangled in the viscous globules exuded by either plants 

 on the outer ends of their filaments. 



The order to which these plants belong have not only been 

 considered insectivorous in their habits, but also carnivorous, and 

 as many of you may be aware, have been subjected to minute and 

 careful examination with various experiments, by such eminent 

 men as Professor Darwin, Dr. Klein, Dr. Hooker, Dr. Burden 

 Sanderson, and others, all of whom concur in the one opinion, 

 viz. : that they are beyond doubt vegetable carnivora. 



The Drosera spathulata, so called from the resemblance of its 

 leaves to the spathula used by chemists, has a remarkable starry 

 appearance, and is of a dun-red colour, each leaf fringed round 

 with numerous filaments or tentacles. I have never noticed the 

 plant to exceed two (2) inches in diameter. 



