310 
PECULIARITIES OF PLANTS. 
body, nourished by means of roots placed externally, an animal be¬ 
ing an organized body nourished by means of roots (lacteals) placed 
internally. Hedvvig considered that the reproductive organs of a 
plant, after having discharged their peculiar functions, uniformly 
decay and drop off, before the fruit has reached maturity, while those 
of the animal remain permanent, and perish only with the individual 
itself. M. Mirbel has latterly introduced a criterion, founded on the 
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character of the substances on which plants and animals feed. Plants 
feed upon unorganized substances, as earths, salts, water, or gases. 
Animals feed upon substances already organized, as vegetables, ani¬ 
mals, or their products ; but never wholly upon substances in an un¬ 
organized state. From this last definition, Mr. Keith deduces that 
a vegetable is an organized and living substance, springing from a 
seed or gem, which it again produces, and effecting the develope- 
ment of its parts by means of the intro-susception and assimilation 
of unorganized substances, which it derives from the atmosphere, or 
from the soil in which it grows. An animal is an organized and 
living being, proceeding from an egg or embryo, which it again pro¬ 
duces, and effecting the developement of its parts by means of the 
intro-suscept^on of organized substances, or their products. 
Amongst those plants which possess peculiar irritability, or re¬ 
markable appendages, none appear more interesting than the Dionaea, 
Nepenthes, Sarracenia, and others, which have the power of entrap¬ 
ping insects. Plants having this property may be divided into three 
sections, 1st. Those which have hollow vessels or appendages at¬ 
tached to either their leaves or branches, containing a liquid into 
which the insect having entered is unable to return, as in Sarrace¬ 
nia, Nepenthes, Cephalotus, &c. 2nd. Those which entrap by their 
irritability, as Dionaea, &c. and 3rd. Such as entrap by the viscosity 
of their stems, &c. as Robinia, Silene, and many others. 
First .—Such as have hollow vessels or appendages attached either 
to their leaves or branches. The remarks made by Mr. Murphy, 
Vol. 1, p. 214—-16, render it unnecessary to say much more relative 
to the Sarracenia. We might just add, however, that some pitchers 
which we examined the other day, placed on plants in our posses¬ 
sion, contain flies of a large size, which must have crawled down of 
their own accord, since from their position on the sides, not having 
reached the bottom, it was evident they were walking down, and that 
they could not have been violently thrown in by any other insect. 
We also saw a large woodlouse (Oniscus) which had not reached 
the bottom. May not these have been allured by the sw r eetness 
found on the edge of the pitcher P particularly on that of the S. 
