130 FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE. 



have any effect upon it), by the secretion adhering to 

 and closing up the spiracles by which the insect 

 breathes, just on the same principle that a drenching 

 with oil is used in our hospitals, &c, to kill the 

 vermin with which dirty patients or inmates may be 

 swarming on their admission." He proceeds to argue 

 that there is no irritability capable of being exerted 

 by the plant to the injury of the insect, but this 

 injury is confined to the secretion. 



Although one could hardly doubt the power of the 

 butterworts not only to catch, but also to digest and 

 assimilate insects, such attributes cannot be claimed 

 for the next group of plants to be noticed. It may 

 be perfectly true that by means of a most elaborate 

 contrivance they are enabled to capture living prey, 

 yet there is no evidence forthcoming, that they 

 are able to digest the animals after having caught 

 them. Wherefore, then, it may be asked, an elaborate 

 trap, admirably adapted for the capture of minute 

 organisms, such as are commonly found enclosed 

 within them, if it is all of no use, and when the dainty 

 morsels are captured they cannot be eaten ? This 

 question may partly be answered by a brief summary 

 of the results of such investigations as have already 

 been made by Professor Cohn, 1 and Mr. Darwin, 3 and 

 partly reserved as still requiring elucidation. 



1 Cohn, "Beitrage zur Biologie der Pflanzen," 1875. 



2 Darwin, " Insectivorous Plants," p. 396, etc. 



