ANTB0PB7TA. 283 



plants known. It is a native of a small district near Wil- 

 mington, North Carolina, but is now grown frequently 

 as a curiosity in conservatories. Each leaf has a rounded 

 hlade fringed on the sides with a row of stiff points or 

 spines. Upon each half of the leaf there are generally 

 three sensitive hairs, and when these are touched the sides 

 quickly close together, and the stiff marginal spines inter- 

 lock like the teeth of a rat- trap. "The upper surface of 

 the leaf is thickly studded with minute glands of a reddish 

 or purplish color " (Darwin). These secrete an acid fluid 

 which has the power of digesting insects and other nitrog- 

 enous matters. When an insect happens to alight upon 

 a leaf and touches one of the sensitive hairs, the trap closes 

 so quickly upon it that it is almost invariably caught and 

 securely held, its struggles only serving to increase the 

 vigor of the grasp in which it is held. After a while the 

 digestive fluid is poured out by the glands, and in this the 

 insect is gradually dissolved. In this way the leaf-tissues 

 absorb the insect, and are doubtless nourished by it. After 

 a time a leaf which has caught and digested an insect 

 opens again and is ready for another. In this connection 

 the student may profitably read Mr. Darwin's interesting 

 book, " Insectivorous Plants," published in 1875. 



535. A quite different class of insect-catching plants is 

 represented by the Pitcher-plants of various kinds. In the 

 common Pitcher-plant, which grows in marshes in the 

 northern and eastern United States, the leaves are dilated 

 into tubular or pitcher-shaped cavities (Fig. 170), contain- 

 ing a watery fluid. The upper part of the leaf is reddish 

 in color, and doubtless this attracts insects. Moreover, 

 this upper part is covered with minute stiff hairs, which 

 point downward; they also cover the upper part of the 



