PENTANDRIA. POLYGYNIA. Myosurus. 413 
POLYGYNIA. 
MYOSU'RUS.* {Cal. of five leaves, elongated at the base: 
Petals five, their claws tubular, (nectariferous) : Caps, 
{seeds of most authors,) collected upon a very long re¬ 
ceptacle. Hook. E.) 
M. min'imus. 
{E. Bot. 435. E.)— Kniph. 5— Curt. 251— FI. Dan. 406— Mill. III .— 
Dod. 112. 1— Lob. Obs. 242. 1— Ger. Em. 426. 4 —Park. 500*— J. B. iii. 
512 —Pet. 39. 7—Ger. 345. 4— Lome. ii. 18. 1. 
“ With a pair of pliers I placed an ant upon the middle of a leaf of D. rotundifolia , 
but so as not to disturb the plant. The ant endeavoured to escape, but was held fast by 
the clammy juice at the points of the hairs, which was drawn out by its feet into fine 
threads. In some minutes the short hairs on the disk of the leaf began to bend, then the 
long hairs, and laid themselves upon the insect. After a while the leaf began to curve, and in 
some hours the end of the leaf was so bent inwards as to touch the base. The ant died in 
fifteen minutes, which was before all the hairs had bent themselves. On repeating this 
experiment I found the effects to follow sooner or later, according to the state of the weather. 
At eleven in the morning, a small fly placed in the centre of a leaf, died sooner than the ant 
had done, the hairs bent themselves as before, and at five in the evening the leaf was closed 
together, and held the fly shut up. The same experiment being made on D. longifolia, 
the same effect followed, but more rapidly. I observed, that in sultry weather, and hot 
sunshine, when the drops of juice upon the points of the hairs are largest, the experiment 
succeeded best. If the insect be a small one, sometimes only one edge of the leaf is folded 
up ; hence it should seem necessary that (he insect should stir all the hairs of the leaf.” 
Roth. Beytrog. p. 64. 
(Dr. Barton, of Philadelphia, has discovered a similar power in the Asclepias Syriaca, 
which by means of the irritable valves of its flowers detains flies or other insects which 
chance to alight upon it. Annals of Botany, v. 1. E.) These accounts will, I hope, 
occasion further observations to be made upon the British Fly-trap, which so nearly 
approaches in its wonderful properties to the Dioncea muscipula , or Venus’ Fly-trap , a 
native of the bogs of Carolina. It is natural to inquire whether this destruction of insects 
be not necessary to the welfare of the plant ? (Messrs. Kirby and Spence observe that 
there can be little doubt that these ensnared insects are subservient to some important 
purpose in the economy of the plants which are endowed with the faculty of taking them, 
though we may be ignorant what that purpose is. An experiment by Mr. Knight, 
nurseryman, seems to prove that in the case of Dioncea, at least, the end in view is the 
supplying the leaves with animal nutriment; for a plant upon whose leaves he laid fine 
filaments of raw beef, became much more luxuriant than others not so treated. (For an 
effect somewhat analogous, vid. also Primula, p. 289, note.) Muscicapce also effect their 
purposes in some instances by viscosity, as in Silene; in others by the irritability of 
their stamina; or, as in Dipsacus , by their leaves retaining water, in which numerous 
insects are drowned. E.) It is obvious that the experiments should be made upon 
well-grown vigorous plants on a fine day, when the drops of adhesive liquor at the ends of 
the hairs are always largest. It may be useful to remark, that these plants are not to be 
found without a close inspection of the bogs in which they grow, as they are much covered 
by, and entangled with moss, especially with Sphagnum palustre. This singular irrita¬ 
bility may probably be detected only on hot sunny days. 
The great end and aim of a botanical philosopher must be to discover and prove the 
several uses and adaptations of each portion of the vegetable system ; and however limited 
may be our present attainments,— 
“ Let no presuming impious railer tax 
Creative Wisdom, as if ought was form’d 
In vain, or not for admirable ends.” Thomson. E.) 
* (From jMUf, a mouse, and »ptx, tail ; descriptive of the shape of the receptacle. E.) 
