VENUS' S FLY-TRAP. 



5i 



Miscellany," is the following remark : " The surface 

 of the leaves is irritable in the highest degree, and 

 whatever insect is so unfortunate as to alight on it 

 is caught as effectually as a mouse in a trap, and 

 is even generally squeezed to death by the pressure. 

 What particular purpose in the economy of nature 

 is answered by the imprisoning power of this extra- 



Fig. 4. — Venus's Fly-trap, Dionma muscipula. 



ordinary vegetable, it is extremely difficult, and 

 perhaps impossible, to determine." 



As long ago as 1768, a naturalist, named Ellis, 

 called the attention of Linnaeus to the peculiarities 

 of the leaves of the Venus's Fly-trap, or Dioncea, 

 by the following remarks : " The plant shows that 

 Nature may have some views towards its nourish- 



E 2 



