154 CARNIVOROUS PLANTS WITH ADHESIVE APPARATUS. 



and the one most accurately studied, is the Fly-catcher (DrosophylluTui lusitanicum), 

 which is indigenous to Portugal and Morocco, and is shown in the illustration on 

 p. 155. This plant differs from all the carnivorous kinds hitherto discussed in 

 respect of habitat, inasmuch as it does not grow under water or even in swampy 

 places but on sandy ground and dry rocky mountains. The stem in robust 

 specimens is nearly 9 inches high, and bears, on a few short branches at the 

 top, flowers from 2 to 3 cm. in diameter. The leaves are very numerous and 

 particularly crowded round the base of the stem. Their shape is linear and 

 much attenuated towards the filiform tip, whilst the upper surface is somewhat 

 hollowed so as to form a groove. With the exception of these grooves, the leaves are 

 entirely covered with beads, which glisten in the sunshine like dewdrops; and it is 

 to this circumstance that the plant owes its name of Drosophyllv/m, i.e. Dew-leaf. 

 The glittering drops are the secretion of glands, which in form remind one in some 

 respects of the long-stalked glands of the butterwort, and in others of those of the 

 Sun-dew (Drosera). They resemble the latter in their red coloration, in the fact 

 that the pedicel bearing the gland contains vessels whilst the glands themselves 

 have oblong cells with internal walls thickened by fine spiral ridges, and further, 

 in the circumstance that the secretion covers the gland with a colourless film in the 

 form of a drop. But in shape they especially resemble the glands of the butter- 

 wort, being just like little mushrooms. 



Besides these glands, which are borne on stalks of unequal lengths and are 

 plainly to be distinguished with the naked eye, there are also very small sessile 

 glands. These latter are colourless, and in particular differ from the stalked variety 

 in the fact that they discharge an acid liquid only when they come into contact 

 with nitrogenous animal matter, whereas the production of drops on the stalked 

 glands is accomplished without any such contact. This secretion is acid and ex- 

 tremely viscid. It has the property of adhering immediately to foreign bodies coming 

 into contact with it, though it is readily withdrawn from the gland itself. When 

 an insect alights on the leaf, its legs, abdomen, and wings instantly stick to the drop 

 touched by them. The insect, however, is not held fast by the gland which secreted 

 that drop, but, being able to move, drags the drop off the gland. Its movements 

 bring it into contact with other drops, which thereupon are similarly detached 

 from the glands; and so, in a very short time, the insect is smeared with the 

 secretion from a number of glands. Thus clogged and overwhelmed, it is no longer 

 able to crawl along, but, suffocating, sinks down to the sessile glands which cover 

 the surface of the leaf at a lower level. All the soluble parts of its body are then 

 dissolved by means of the secretion of these glands and are afterwards absorbed. 



The glands renew the drops of secretion of which they are despoiled with 

 great rapidity. The quantity of acid liquid secreted is, in general, very great, so 

 that it is not surprising to find Brosophyllum covered at the same time with 

 remains of besmeared dead bodies drained of their juices, and with still struggling 

 insects which have recently alighted and become clogged. The number of animals 

 caught by the leaves of a single plant is very great; and even people who are not 



