NATIVE PLANTS IN FIELD, FOREST AND GARDEN. 



285 



glass dish, kept |it well watered, shaded it from the sun 

 during the day, but put it out at night to catch the dew, 

 and perhaps a summer shower. The rest was placed in 

 a fern case. The latter made 

 a marvelous growth ; the leaves, 

 which are — like a fern — circi- 

 nate in vernation, unrolling 

 rapidly and growing much 

 larger than those not under 

 glass. A bit of roast veal 

 placed upon a leaf was entirely 

 consumed in a few days' time, 

 the tentacles then resuming 

 their usual position. A drop of 

 milk on another leaf disap- 

 peared, leaving a tiny drop of 

 oil in its place. A third leaf 

 was given a dinner of roast 

 lamb; for hours it remained 

 untouched. The following 

 morning, however, found i t 

 fast in the clutches of drosera. 

 But wonderful changes had 

 been wrought during the night ; 

 the particle given was dry and 

 brown, but now a soft white 

 substance, puffy and bloated, 

 was seen through the micro- 

 scope ; this gradually liquefied 

 and was absorbed, leaving a 

 slight residue — probably "for 

 manners." Truth compels me 



to add that this experiment was too much for the leaf, 

 for insectivorous plants, like animals, sometimes die of 

 surfeit. , 



The most wonderful sight to be seen in this kind of a 

 laboratory is, perhaps, the working of the glands on a 

 small house fly. Place the leaf in the sunshine and 



Fig 



A Live Oak, Audubon Park. 



Lu'E Oak Avenue, Audubon Park. 



use the strongest glass accessible. One must, indeed, 

 be color-blind if he sees no beauty in the green cup 

 with its red filaments tipped with sparkling iridescent 

 globes of the secretion ; the jet- 

 black body of the fly lies bathed in 

 the sticky fluid, while drosera in- 

 serts a gland here and there with 

 animal-like precision, digesting, as- 

 similating and absorbing food for 

 its own sustenance. 



Think of it, ye dyspeptic mortals, 

 all of this without the intervention 

 of a nervous system ! "Nature 

 does everything as simply as pos- 

 sible," and this is only an every- 

 day phenomena, but proves conclu- 

 sively that "most persons are 

 walking through wonderland with 

 their eyes shut." — G. A. Woolson, 

 J'eniiont . 



Viola pedata (Fig. 4). — The 

 bird's-foot violet is probably our 

 handsomest native species. Its 

 flowers are very large and open, 

 and they vary from the brightest 

 blue to almost pure white. The 

 illustration shows the plant about 



