DIGESTION. 
Ouar. XIII. 301 
mens kept in water. I then tried suspending a leaf 
in a bottle over an excessively putrid infusion of 
raw meat, to see whether they absorbed the vapour, 
but their contents were not affected. 
Digestive Power of the Secretion.*—When a leaf closes 
over any object, it may be said to form itself into a 
temporary stomach ; and if the object yields ever so 
little animal matter, this serves, to use Schiff’s expres- 
sion, as a peptogene, and the glands on the surface 
pour forth their acid secretion, which acts like the 
gastric juice of animals. As so many experiments 
were tried on the digestive power of Drosera, only a 
few were made with Dionwa, but they were amply 
sufficient to prove that it digests. This plant, more- 
over, is not so well fitted as Drosera for observation, 
as the process goes on within the closed lobes. Insects, 
even beetles, after being subjected to the secretion for 
several days, are surprisingly softened, though their 
chitinous coats are not corroded, 
Experiment 1.—A cube of albumen of 7 of an inch (2'540 
mm.) was placed at one end of a leaf, and at the other end 
an oblong piece of gelatine, 4 of an inch (5:08 mm.) long, and 
* Dr. W. M. Canby, of Wil- 
mington, to whom I am much 
indebted for information regard- 
ing Dionza in its iative home, 
has published in the ‘ Gardener’s 
Monthly, Philadelphia, August 
1868, some interesting observa- 
tions. He ascertained that the 
secretion digests animal matter, 
such as the contents of insects, 
bits of meat, &e.; and that the 
secretion is reabsorbed. He was 
also well aware that the lobes 
remain closed for a much longer 
time when in contact with animal 
matter than when made to shut 
by a mere touch, or over objects 
not yielding soluble nutriment; 
and that in these latter cases the 
glands do not secrete. The Rev. 
Dr. Curtis first observed (‘ Boston 
Journal Nat. Hist.’ vol. i. p. 123) 
the secretion from the glands. I 
may here add that a gardener, 
Mr. Knight, is said (Kirby and 
Spencer’s ‘Introduction to Ento- 
mology,’ 1818, vol. i. p. 295) to 
have found that a plant of the 
Dionza, on the leaves of which 
“he laid fine filaments of raw 
beef, was much more luxuriant 
in its growth than othors not so 
treated.” 
