836 DROSOPHYLLUM L1USITANICUM. Cuar. XV 
secretion was accumulated ir the course of a day that 
it ran down the tentacles and covered large spaces of 
the leaves. 
The glands to which the above named nitrogenous 
substances and liquids were given did not, as just 
stated, secrete more copiously ; on the contrary, they 
absorbed their own drops of secretion with surprising 
quickness. Bits of damp fibrin were placed on five 
glands, and when they were looked at after an interval 
of 1 hr. 12 m,, the fibrin was almost dry, the secre- 
tion having been all absorbed. So it was with three 
cubes of albumen after 1 hr. 19 m.,and with four other 
cubes, though these latter were not looked at until 
. 2 hrs. 15 m. had elapsed. The same result followed 
in between 1 hr. 15 m. and 1 hr. 30 m. when particles 
both of cartilage and meat were placed on several 
glands. Lastly, a minute drop (about =, of a minim) 
of a solution of one part of nitrate of ammonia to 
146 of water was distributed between the secretion 
surrounding three glands, so that the amount of fluid 
surrounding each was slightly increased; yet when 
looked at after 2 hrs., all three were dry. On the 
other hand, seven particles of glass and three of coal- 
cinders, of nearly the same size as those of the above 
named organic substances, were placed on ten glands; 
some of them being observed for 18 hrs., and others 
for two or three days; but there was not the least 
sign of the secretion being absorbed. Hence, in the 
former cases, the absorption of the secretion must 
have been due to the presence of some nitrogenous 
matter, which was either already soluble or was ren- 
dered so by the secretion. As the fibrin was pure, 
and had been well washed in distilled water after 
being kept *n glycerine, and as the cartilage had been 
soaked in water, I suspect that these substances must 
