OTHER METHODS OF OBTAINING FOOD 197 
There are other plants which effect the capture and 
digestion of insects in other ways. Drosophyllum, which 
is-found in part of the Mediterranean region, is furnished 
with a number of long filiform leaves, which are closely 
set with stalked glands. These pour out a peculiar muci- 
laginous secretion which forms a drop of very glistening 
appearance round their swollen heads. There are other 
sessile glands among them which exude an acid digestive 
secretion resembling the gastric juice of the stomach, when 
they come into contact with protein animal matter. An 
insect, attracted to the leaves by their glistening appearance, 
is at once entangled in the viscid mucilage and is presently 
suffocated. It is speedily digested by the secretion of the 
sessile glands. 
Pinguicula, the butter-wort, has a mechanism of a 
somewhat similar nature. It bears, resting on the ground, 
large fleshy green leaves, the edges of which are slightly 
curled over towards the upper surface, forming a kind of 
open trough. All over the upper surface are distributed 
glands which pour out a viscid mucilage. On contact with 
any small mass of protein, or with an insect or other small 
animal, these glands also pour out an increased amount of 
mucilage, mixed now with a digestive fluid similar to that 
of Drosophyllum. Tf an insect alights upon the margin of 
the leaf, not only is the secretion poured out, but the edge 
slowly curls over more strongly, either covering the intruder, 
or pressing it towards the centre of the trough. Here it is 
suffocated and digested as in other cases. Pinguicula is 
peculiar in that its secretion has the power of curdling milk 
in the same way as the gastric juice of animals. 
In some cases a yet more elaborate mechanism is found 
to effect the same purpose. We find associated with the 
power of digesting and absorbing animal food, a mechanism 
for the capture of the prey which involves a movement of 
either the leaf-blade itself or of the glands which it pro- 
duces. Tho former is exhibited by Dionea, the Venus’s 
fly-trap ; the latter by the different species of Drosera (the 
Sundews). 
