602 



nearly as I could make out, they lost the power of drawing their 

 feet back, and could only move the brush-like appendages. There 

 was some variation with different bladders as to the time when 

 maceration or digestion began to take place, but usually, on a 

 growing spray in less than two clays after a large larva was cap- 

 tured, the fluid contents of the bladders began to assume a cloudy 

 or muddy appearance, and often became so dense that the outline 

 of the animal was lost to view. 



Nothing yet in the history of carnivorous plants comes so near 

 to the animal as this. I was forced to the conclusion that these 

 little bladders are in truth like so many stomachs, digest ing and 

 assimilating animal food. What it is that attracts this particular 

 larva into the bladders is left for further investigation. But here 

 is the fact that animals are found there, and in large numbers, 

 and who can deny that the plant feeds directly upon them ? The 

 why and wherefore is no more inexplicable than many another fact 

 in nature. And it only goes to show that the two great kingdoms 

 of nature are more intimately blended than we had heretofore 

 supposed, and, with Dr. Hooker, we may be compelled to say, 

 "our brother organisms — plants." 



About the 1st of December, after I had made most of my 

 observations, I wrote to Dr. Asa Gray and to Mr. Darwin, both 

 on the same day, telling them of my discovery. Dr. Gray then 

 informed me that Mr. Darwin had been engaged in the same work 

 on Llr>i:nl<tn'<i, and also sent me a note from him, bearing date 

 Aug. 5. From this note it would appear that at that date he had 

 not worked the matter up as far as I had — at least had not found 

 so many imprisoned animals ; but with his superior facilities he 

 may have far outstripped me. 



REVIEWS AND BOOK NOTICES. 



Allen's Studies in the Facial Region. 1 — Though these essays 

 are for the most part jottings from lectures delivered to dental 

 students, naturalists will take an interest in the last chapter on 

 the "Nomenclature of the Teeth," while the first chapter on the 

 " Region of Expression," is an interesting one. 



