192 
LETTEES FEOM ALABAMA. 
fragrance, but allude to it on account of its very 
remarkable economy. It is the Venus’s Fly-trap 
{Dionoea muscijpula)^ an appropriate name, as far 
as it expresses its office, but why dedicated to the 
goddess of love I am not aware. The plant is 
small ; the leaves grow, like those of the primrose, 
on the ground, the stem being undeveloped, and 
are furnished at the end of each with an appen- 
dage, like another smaller leaf, the two lobes .of 
which turn upon the mid-rib, as upon a hinge, and 
close together on being touched, like the erected 
wings of a butterfly. The edges are armed with 
stiff spinous hairs, which lock into one another, 
and prevent the escape of any unfortunate insect 
captured by this curious trap. On tickling the 
surface with a straw, we can at any time cause the 
leaf instantly thus to shut up ; but on close inves- 
tigation its irritability is perceived to reside in a 
few hairs, not more than three or four, which are 
scattered over the surface ; for if these be avoided, ‘ 
the leaf may be tickled all day to no purpose, but 
the moment one of them is touched, though ever 
so slightly, the magic effect is produced. When 
the plant grows old, the divisions bend backward, 
and then the glandular hairs lose their irritability. 
I sometimes feel rather disappointed that I am 
able to do so little, either in collecting, or in 
making observations out of doors, seeing that 
there are so many things, particularly in Entomo- 
logy, worthy of being observed and recorded. But 
the fact is, the sun’s heat is so intense, being 
almost vertical, and rarely shadowed by a cloud, 
that it is scarcely prudent to expose oneself to it 
during the middle part of the day. Gentlemen, 
who ride on horseback (none walk), usually carry 
