THE SUNDEWS. 43 



become absorbed, the result of absorption being 

 plainly traced, that also other substances may be 

 absorbed, which would either be neutral or beneficial 

 to the plant, but which cannot so easily be traced in 

 their course. 



There is another remarkable phenomenon in which 

 the tentacles perform a conspicuous part, which must 

 be briefly alluded to, as affording evidence of the great 

 changes which take place in the internal organism of 

 these plants under excitement. If a resting tentacle 

 is examined, selecting one which has not been 

 excited or inflected, the cells of the pedicel will be 

 seen to present a completely uniform appearance, 

 filled with a purple fluid, retaining throughout one 

 uniform character, and a thin layer of uncoloured 

 circulating fluid, passing along the walls of the cell. 

 These cells, with a diffused colour, impart to the 

 pedicel a continuous purple tint. But if a tentacle is 

 examined after it has been excited, from whatever 

 cause, the cells will present quite a changed appear- 

 ance. Even to the naked eye they will not present 

 the same uniform, even, purple tint, but seem to be 

 speckled, mottled, or variegated. Examination of 

 these cells, so changed, under the microscope will 

 reveal the cause of the mottling, in the aggregation 

 of the purple matter, which they contain, in variously- 

 shaped masses, suspended in a colourless medium. 

 Each cell, which before was suffused with a uniform 



