The Natural System of Botany. 209 



scape, and when young are coiled inwards. The sepals are 

 five in number, as are also the petals and stamens. In their 

 organs of fructification these plants are nearly allied to the 

 Violets, but they have been placed in different positions in the 

 natoral arrangement. We have followed the best American 

 authorities in assigning them a place next to Violaceae. Dr. 

 Lindley considers it probable that their true affinity is with the 

 Side Saddle Flowers, Sarraceniaceae. 



There is another very remarkable plant of this order, which 

 is a native of the Southern States, and is sometimes seen in 

 northern collections. This is Venus' Fly Trap, Dionsea 

 muscipula. The following description of it, taken from Mr. 

 Curtis's Plants of North Carolina, will interest those who have 

 never seen it in its native soil : 



» The leaf, which is the only remarkable part, springs from 

 the root, spreading upon the ground, at a little elevation above 

 it. It is composed of a petiole, or stem with broad margins, 

 like the leaf of the Orange tree, two to four inches long, which, 

 at the end, suddenly expands into a thick and somewhat rigid 

 leaf, the two sides of which are semi-circular, about two-thirds 

 of an inch across, and fringed around their edges with some- 

 what rigid ciliae, or long hairs, like eye-lashes. The leaf, 

 indeed, may be very aptly compared to two upper eye-lids, 

 joined at their bases. Each portion of the leaf is a little con- 

 cave on the inner side, where are placed three delicate, hair- 

 like organs, in such an order that an insect can hardly traverse 

 it without interfering with one of them, when the two sides 

 suddenly collapse and enclose their prey, with a force surpass- 

 ing the insect's efforts to escape. The fringe or hairs of the 

 opposite sides interlace, like the fingers of the two hands 

 clasped together. The sensitiveness resides only in these hair- 

 like processes on the inside, as the leaf may be touched or 

 pressed in any other part, without sensible effect. The little 

 prisoner is not crushed and suddenly destroyed, as is some- 

 times supposed, for I have often liberated captive flies and 

 spiders, which sped away as fast as fear or joy could hasten 

 them. At other times I have found them enveloped in a fluid 

 of mucilaginous consistence, which seemed to act as a solvent, 

 the insect being more or less consumed by it. This circum- 



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