450 THE PLEASURE, OR [July. 
unfortunate fly, or any other small animal happens to creep on it, 
the lobes immediately fold up and confine it: the greater efibrts 
the creature makes to disengage itself, the more it irritates the 
interior parts, and consequently is the more firmly secured: here it 
remains till crushed or starved to death; when the irritation having 
ceased, the lobes open as before, and the remains of the insect is 
either washed out by the rain, or carried away by the wind. The 
lobes will also close if the interior be touched with a straw, &c. 
This plant is a native of the Carolinas, where it grows in swamps: 
it produces in July and August bunches of handsome white flowers 
on stems of from six to eight inches high, and in the eastern and 
middle states must be treated as a hardy green-house plant. 
It is propagated both by seeds and suckers, requires a swampy 
soil, with a mixture of fine sand, and must be kept well watered 
and in the shade during the summer months. This is a very proper 
period to take off and plant the suckers: the seed should be sown 
early in spring, forwarded in a hot-bed, and during the summer 
months the seedlings ought to be carefully protected from the mid- 
day sun. 
The Tutsan-leaved Dogshane. 
The ^pocynum androssemifolium, or tutsan-leaved dogsbane, is 
not only interesting on account of its beauty and fragrance, but 
also on account of the curious structure of its flowers, and their 
singular method and property of catching flies. 
It is a hardy perennial, indigenous in various parts of the United 
States, grows in a wild uncultivated state in the neighbourhood of 
Philadelphia, and usually to the height of from two and a half to 
three feet, flowering from the beginning of July to September; it 
has a creeping root, whereby it increases greatly in light dry soils 
and warm situations, so as even to be troublesome; it will not thrive 
in wet soil. It is propagated by sowing the seeds in spring, which 
with us it produces abundantly, or by parting its roots in March or 
October. 
The flowers of this plant have a sweet honey -like fragrance which 
perfumes the air, and no doubt operates powerfully in attracting 
insects; when a plant of this sort is fully blown, one may always 
find flies caught in its blossoms, usually by the trunk, very rarely 
by the leg — sometimes four or even five, which is the greatest pos- 
sible number, are found in one flower, some dead, others endea- 
vouring to disentangle themselves, in which they are now and then 
so fortunate as to succeed. 
Previous to explaining the manner in which it appears that these 
flies are caught, it will be necessary to describe those parts of the 
flower which more particularly constitutes this fatal fly-trap. 
On looking into the flower there are perceivable five stamina, 
the antherae of which are large, of a yellow colour, and converge 
into a kind of cone; each of these antheras is arrow-shaped; towards 
the top of the cone their sides touch but do not adhere, below they 
separate a little so as to leave a very narrow opening or slit between 
