396 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



not depend so much on what it captures by the leaves. 

 D. binata, though considered by many as synonymous with 

 the last-mentioned, is a much more slender-growing plant, 

 having the leaves constantly binate ; the glands are also redder 

 in colour, and it is altogether distinct, and even more graceful 

 than D. dichotoma. Both are natives of Australia. D. capen- 

 sis is also a strong-growing species, having long, undivided leaves, 

 thickly beset with glands that secrete copiously and capture large 

 numbers of insects. D. spatlmlata is a very elegant, round- 

 leaved species from Australia, one of the easiest of all to cultivate, 

 as it flowers and seeds very freely. Self-sown seedlings come up 

 in abundance on the surface of the pots where they are grown. 

 Other species in cultivation are T>. auriculata, D. BurJcei, 

 D. cistiflora, D. capillaris, B. filiformis, D. madagascariensis, 

 and D. Whittakeri. 



Drosophyllum lusitanictcm, the Portuguese " Fly-catcher," 

 is a shrubby-growing plant closely allied to Drosera. It cap. 

 tures large numbers of small flies during the season, but is 

 not a long-lived plant in cultivation. It, however, seeds abun- 

 dantly, and is best when raised every second or third year. Its 

 large handsome yellow flowers render it peculiarly attractive. 

 The most gigantic member of the family is Boridula dentata, a 

 native of South Africa, where it attains to a height of six feet. 

 It is of a shrubby habit, and has long pinnatifid leaves which 

 are covered with an extremely viscid secretion. It captures 

 enormous quantities of flies, and even wasps, the leaves and 

 branches becoming literally covered with insects of various kinds. 

 A plant in the Koyal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, is now 5 feet 

 6 inches in height. At Stellenbosch, South Africa, where the 

 plant grows wild, the Boers utilise cut branches of it in their rooms 

 for the purpose of catching flies. These are hung up, and soon 

 become covered with flies. The branches are then dipped in water 

 to clean the insects off, and again hung up, when more secretion is 

 exuded by the leaves. This process may be repeated over and over 

 again with the same branch. 



One of the best known examples of an insectivorous plant, 

 and also one of the earliest known, is Dioncea muscipula, 

 or " Venus' Fly-trap." It belongs to the Droseracece, and is 

 a native of South Carolina. The leaf-blade of Dionaea is 

 bilobed and the petiole foliaceous. The lobes of the blade 



