3o 



FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE. 



dissolves animal matter afterwards to be absorbed, 

 may be said to feed like an animal. But, differently 

 from an animal, it drinks by means of its roots ; and 

 it must drink largely so as to retain many drops of 

 viscid fluid round the glands, sometimes as many as 



260, exposed during the 

 whole day to a glaring 

 sun." l 



Thus we have taken a 

 cursory glance at the little 

 sundew, and some of the 

 phenomena which it ex- 

 hibits, in order to com- 

 prehend still better the 

 more explicit details of 

 some of the individual 

 Fig. 3.— Leaf with tentacles of features in its history, to 

 Drosera rotundifolia, en- which we shall have to re- 

 turn. We have described 

 the leaves, which are in fact the traps by means of 

 which living insects are caught, and, not only this, but 

 the stomach also in which the animal food is digested. 

 To prove that these are not fanciful notions, but have 

 plenty of evidence in support, the important features 

 will have to be examined in detail. 



A leaf studded with sparkling glandular hairs 



1 Darwin, " Insectivorous Plants," p. iS. 



