MINOR CARNIVORA. 149 



Twenty-five years ago Mr. P. H. Gosse wrote thus, in 

 reference to this very subject : — " The curious fact 

 stated by Dr. Lindley, that specimens of the fly-trap 

 fed with atoms of chopped meat have evidently 

 thriven under the stimulating diet, and become more 

 vigorous than others left to the resources of the soil 

 and air, tends to confirm this supposition (of car- 

 nivorous habits), however strange it may appear. 

 The frequent occurrence of startling facts, facts at 

 variance with pre-established theories, forbids the 

 philosophic naturalist to speak of any statement, . 

 professing to rest on observation, as impossible, 

 merely because it has not been hitherto recognised, 

 or cannot be reconciled with existing knowledge. It 

 was the remark of a sage 'The more I learn, the 

 more do I become convinced that I know nothing.' " 1 



Note. — In Gerarde's "Herbal" (p. 601) it is written of the 

 limewort, or viscaria : " The whole plant, as well leaves and 

 stalks, as also the floures are here and there covered over with 

 a most thicke and clammy matter, like unto bird-lime, which 

 if you take in your hands, the sliminesse is such that your 

 fingers will sticke and cleave together, as if your hand touched 

 bird-lime : and furthermore, if flies doe light upon the same, 

 they will be so entangled with the liminesse, that they cannot flie 

 away ; insomuch that in some hot day or other you shall see 

 many flies caught by that means. Whereupon I have called it 

 Catch Flie or Limewort." 



' Tenby," by P. H. Gosse, p. 209. 



