PLANTS THAT EAT INSECTS 18 
drink of the nectar; he steps on one of the sen- 
sitive nerve-hairs; the leaf-trap snaps shut—and the 
plant devours its meat at leisure, first soaking it 
with a sticky digestive fluid. When the insect has 
been entirely absorbed, the leaf opens again and 
carefully resets its trap. 
The sundew is a striking plant of this meat-eat- 
ing family. What a harmless looking, dainty 
thing it is! All grouped together in little col- 
onies, it grows close to the ground. Its leaves, 
which are arranged in small rosettes, are covered 
with scarlet tentacles, and at the tip of each of 
these tentacles, or hairs, is a minute drop of honey, 
which glistens like dew with the sun on it: hence 
the plant’s name, sundew. From the centre of 
the rosette-leaves, a slender stalk shoots up sev- 
eral inches into the air, and is covered at the upper 
end with delicate, pinkish-violet flowers. The re- 
sult of this beautiful arrangement of colours and 
forms is a seductively inviting trap to the unwary. 
However, it is not to the eye of the insect, but 
to his stomach, that the most direct appeal is made. 
The insects are attracted not by the flowers but 
by the glistening, dew-like hairs; and as soon as a 
poor wanderer tries to drink the drops of honey 
so temptingly displayed, he becomes hopelessly 
entangled among the sticky-ended tentacles. The 
