DIONiEA. 



183 



"My observations on cultivated plants [of Dionsea] 

 are now complete, and I shall publish them in six or 

 nine months, though they will be of little value com- 

 pared with those made on the plant in its own country. 

 * * * I should very much like to hear about one point. 

 Dr. Canby says that the same leaf will catch two or 

 three flies successively. Now 

 I find with cultivated plants 

 that a leaf which has once 

 caught a good -sized insect, 

 though it will open and re- 

 main so for a considerable 

 time, has so little power of 

 movement that it most rarely 

 is able to catch a second insect 

 or to close over any object. 

 I should very much like to be 

 able to say what the truth is 

 on this head." 



To this I am now able to 

 reply that a considerable num- 

 ber of leaves took the third 

 fly, but most of them were 



not able to wholly digest them. Five leaves digested 

 three flies each, and opened apparently healthy, and 

 were soon ready for another meal, but died soon after 

 closing over the fourth fly. On the other hand some 

 leaves were not able to digest a single fly, as may be 

 seen by the extracts from my record (1874) : 



FIB. 17. OPEN LKAF-TRAP OF 



DJIIN.KA MUSCIPULA. 



