110 DROSERA ROTUNDIFOLIA. Cap. VL 
re-expand, the rest being much injured or killed. I 
repeated the experiment, but moistened the phosphate 
with saliva to insure prompt inflection; one leaf re- 
mained inflected for six days (the little saliva used 
would not have acted for nearly so long a time) and 
then died; the other leaf tried to re-expand on the 
sixth day, but after nine days failed to do so, and 
likewise died. Although the quantity of phosphate 
given to the above four leaves was extremely small, 
much was left in every case undissolved. A larger 
quantity wetted with water was next placed on the 
discs of three leaves; and these became most strongly 
inflected in the course of 24 hrs. They never re- 
expanded; on the fourth day they looked sickly, 
and on the sixth were almost dead. Large drops 
of not very viscid fluid hung from their edges during 
the six days. This fluid was tested each day with 
litmus paper, but never coloured it; and this cir- 
cumstance I do not understand, as the superphosphate 
of lime is acid. I suppose that some superphosphate 
must have been formed by the acid of the secretion 
acting on the phosphate, but that it was all absorbed 
and injured the leaves; the large drops which hung 
from their edges being an abnormal and dropsical 
secretion. Anyhow, it is manifest that the phos- 
phate of lime is a most powerful stimulant. Even 
small doses are more or less poisonous, probably on 
the same principle that raw meat and other nutri- 
tious substances, given in excess, kill the leaves. 
Hence the conclusion, that the long continued in- 
flection of the tentacles over fragments of bone, 
enamel, and dentine, is caused by the presence of 
phosphate of lime, and not of any included animal 
matter, is no doubt correct. 
Gelatine.—I used pure gelatine in thin sheets given 
