68 



FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE. 



cne of the closed leaves of the Australian variety 

 from Queensland a rather large beetle was found, 

 with all the softer parts of the body dissolved. 



The leaves evidently are well adapted for catching 

 living creatures. There are long sensitive hairs which 

 are probably sensitive. There are glands which,, 



from analogy, may se- 

 crete a limpid fluid. 1 

 Altogether, however, 

 although kinship and 

 analogy might point to* 

 this as another of the 

 carnivorous plants of the 

 Sundew family, a sup- 

 position which is sup- 

 ported by a sort of 

 circumstantial evidence,, 

 still, so little is definitely 

 known, that it is better 

 to suspend the judgment 

 than reach at too hasty 

 a conclusion. 



The Portuguese Fly-catcher is the name by which 

 we may distinguish that rare little plant Drosophyllum 

 Lusitanicum, which hitherto has only been found in 

 Portugal and Morocco. It is plentiful in the neigh- 



Fig. 5. — Leaf of Aldrovanda, 

 enlarged. — Cohn. 



1 Darwin, p. 330. 



