The Drosophyllum has been found, so far, only in Portugal and Morocco. The leaves are narrow, concave above, and several inches long. They are covered with stalked, mushroom-shaped tentacles, and quantities of small round, or oval, sessile glands. Internally the tentacles and glands are alike, but they are fitted to perform entirely different functions. The tentacles have no power of flexure; the substance which they secrete, unlike that of Drosera, is easily detached from the gland, and for that very reason is specially adapted to its peculiar mode of capture. The two secretions, of the viscid acid and of the pepsin, which in Drosera are performed successively by a single gland, are performed in Drosophyl lum by two separate organs,—the mushroom-shaped tentacles secreting the first, and the sessile glands the second of these fluids. The latter glands secrete spontaneously their peculiar substance, which is sufficiently fluid to roll off their rounded tops at a touch. An insect alights, and rolls off, carrying with it the viscid drop which effectively clogs its wings and legs, so that it lies helpless upon the leaf below. The lower glands, now, being excited by the presence of nitrogenous matter, begin to secrete their pepsin, and the food is finally digested. The gastric fluid

secreted by all of the Droseracea, it may be mentioned here, is an antiseptic, the substances submitted to its action always disappearing, as they do

A, Glandular texture of Dionea leaf, seen in section; b. b, glands on upper surface; d, d, stellate hairs on lower surface. (About 150 diams.) B, Glandular surface of Dionaea leaf, seen from above; b, digestive glands; d, stellate hairs; a, sensitive filament. (100 diams) [After Nature.]

in animal pepsin, without showing any signs of de

composition.

The Dionaa, or Venus' fly-trap, is found in great quantities in parts of this country. It presents many points of similarity, and as many of difference, when compared with Drosera. [See Fig. 78.] It possesses, like the Drosera, very small roots. As the plant has been successfully grown in wet moss, they probably serve the same purpose, and are useful only for imbibing moisture. The footstalk broadens out into a leaf-shaped expansion of tissue, a, a, a, at the end of which a two-lobed leaf is found. The lobes curve upward and outward convexly at an angle of less than 90° from each other; the lobes terminate on their outer edge in a row of sharp projecting points, into each of which a bundle of spiral vessels extends. On the upper surface of each there. are three delicate filaments triangularly placed. [See Fig. 79, b, b; also Fig. 80, B, a.] Occasionally there are more or less; but the usual number is three. These filaments seem to be the only sensitive part of the lobes; though their sensitiveness they show, not by their own movements, but by that of the lobe on which they are placed. The upper surface is thickly covered with glands, sessile upon the leaf,

;

with a convex upper surface. [See Fig. 82, a, b Fig. 80, A, b, B, b.] These glands secrete, but only after having absorbed some nutritious substance. Minute projections, having eight arms, stellate

A, Pinguicula, glandular surface of leaf; g, glands; h, hairs; b, base of hairs;

s, stomata. B, Section of Pinguicula leaf; g, glands. [From Nature.]

hairs, are found thickly studding the outer surface of the lobes. [Fig. 80, B, d.] The whole processes of movement and digestion are wonderfully and beautifully correlated. The continued pressure,

a, Top view; b, side view; c, stellate hairs. [After Lindley.]

however slight, which causes the slow inflection of the Drosera tentacles, after the first touch, has no effect upon Dionaa. The Drosera captures its prey by means of its viscid secretion, and the pressure caused by the struggles of the insect causes inflection, which it accomplishes quite at its leisure. Dionæa, having no secretion, secures its prey by instantly closing upon it. The filaments, therefore, which cause the lobes to close instantly at the lightest touch, are comparatively indifferent to prolonged pressure. These filaments have nothing whatever to do with the digestive process; they are merely the sentinels, on guard to signal at the approach of a victim.

Inorganic bodies placed upon the lobes, unless they