26 Life and Tnmortality. 
with absorbent hairs, are so poorly developed. From what 
has been stated it would seem that the roots but serve to 
imbibe water, but there is no doubt that nutritious matters 
would also be absorbed were they present in the soil. 
With the edges of its leaves curled so as to form a tempo- 
rary stomach, and with the glands of its closely-inflected ten- 
tacles pouring forth their truly acid secretion, which dissolves 
animal matters that are subsequently absorbed, Drosera 
may be said to feed like an animal. But, unlike an animal, 
it drinks by means of its roots, and largely, too, for it would 
not be able to supply its glands with the necessary viscid 
fluid. The amount needed is by no means an inconsiderable 
quantity, as two hundred and seventy drops may sometimes 
be exposed during a whole day to a glaring sun. Sucha 
profuse exudation implies preparations for hosts of insect 
visitors. In this Drosera has not miscalculated. Its bright 
pink blossoms and brilliant, glistening dew lure vast numbers 
of the smaller kinds, and the larger ones, too, to certain 
death. But the wholesale destruction of life that goes on is 
much in excess of what the plant requires for food. While 
the smaller flies remain adherent to the leaves, affording 
them the needed aliment, the larger insects, after death, fall 
around the roots, where they decay and fertilize the soil with 
nitrogen, which doubtless through the proper channels makes 
its way into the body of the plant, thus helping to give it 
tone and vigor. There are times when these plants work 
better than at others, but whether this is caused by the elec- 
trical condition of the atmosphere, or the amount of its 
contained moisture, is a question which science has not 
positively determined, 
Drosera longifolia folds it leaves entirely around its victim, 
from the apex down to the petiole after the manner of its 
vernation, but in Drosera rotundifolia, whose marginal 
tentacles are longer, the tentacles simply curve around the 
object, the glands touching the substance, like so many 
mouths receiving nourishment. Experimented upon with 
