Cuap. XUI.] SECRETION AND ABSORPTION. 239 
the balls were removed by the aid of thin pincers, and were 
found perfectly dry. On the other hand, if a bit of damp 
meat or a crushed fly is placed on tie surface of an expanded 
leaf, the glands after a time secrete freely. In one such 
case there was a little secretion directly beneath the meat in 
4 hrs.; and after an additional 3 hrs. there was a consider- 
able quantity both under and close round it. In another 
case, after 3 hrs. 40 m., the bit of meat was quite wet. But 
none of the glands secreted, excepting those which actually 
touched the meat or the secretion containing dissolved 
animal matter. 
If, however, the lobes aré made to close over a bit of meat 
or an insect, the result is different, for the glands over the 
whole surface of the leaf now secrete copiously. As in this 
case the glands on both sides are pressed against the meat or 
insect, the secretion from the first is twice as great as when 
a bit of meat is laid on the surface of one lobe; and as the 
two lobes come into almost close contact, the secretion, 
containing dissolved animal matter, spreads by capillary 
attraction, causing fresh glands on both sides to begin 
secreting in a continually widening circle. The secretion is 
almost colourless, slightly mucilaginous, and, judging by the 
manner in which it coloured litmus paper, more strongly 
acid than that of Drosera. It is so copious that on one 
occasion, when a leaf was cut open, on which a small cube 
of albumen had been placed 45 hrs. before, drops rolled off 
the leaf. On another occasion, in which a leaf with an 
enclosed bit of roast meat spontaneously opened after eight 
days, there was so much secretion in the furrow over the 
midrib that it trickled down. A large crushed fly (Tipula) 
was placed on a leaf from which a small portion at the base 
of one lobe had previously been cut. away, so that an opening 
was left; and through this, the secretion continued to run 
down the footstalk during nine days,—that is, for as long a 
time as it was observed. By forcing up one of the lobes, I 
was able to see some distance between them, and all the 
glands within sight were secreting freely. 
We have seen that inorganic and non-nitrogenous objects 
placed on the leaves do not excite any movement; but 
nitrogenous bodies, if in the least degree damp, cause after 
several hours the lobes to close slowly. Thus bits of quite 
dry meat and gelatine were placed at opposite ends of the 
same leaf, and in the course of 24 hrs. excited neither 
