Page:Insectivorous Plants, Darwin, 1899.djvu/44



I made, without carefully recording the times of movement, many similar trials with other substances, such as splinters of white and blue glass, particles of cork, minute bits of gold-leaf, &c. ; and the proportional number of cases varied much in which the tentacles reached the centre, or moved only slightly, or not at all. One evening, particles of glass and cork, rather larger than those usually employed, were placed on about a dozen glands, and next morning, after 13 hrs., every single tentacle had carried its little load to the centre; but the unusually large size of the particles will account for this result. In another case $$\frac{6}{7}$$ of the particles of cinder, glass, and thread, placed on separate glands, were carried towards, or actually to, the centre ; in another case $$\frac{7}{9}$$, in another $$\frac{7}{13}$$, and in the last case only $$\frac{7}{36}$$ were thus carried inwards, the small proportion being here due, at least in part, to the leaves being rather old and inactive. Occasionally a gland, with its light load, could be seen through a strong lens to move an extremely short distance and then stop; this was especially apt to occur when excessively minute particles, much less than those of which the measurements will be immediately given, were placed on glands ; so that we here have nearly the limit of any action.

I was so much surprised at the smallness of the particles which caused the tentacles to become greatly inflected that it seemed worth while carefully to ascertain how minute a particle would plainly act. Accordingly, measured lengths of a narrow strip of blotting-paper, of fine cotton-thread, and of a woman's hair, were carefully weighed for me by Mr. Trenham Reeks, in an excellent balance, in the laboratory in Jermyn Street. Short bits of the paper, thread, and hair were then cut off and measured by a micrometer, so that their weights could be easily calculated. The bits were placed on the viscid secretion surrounding the glands of the exterior tentacles, with the precautions already stated, and I am certain that the gland itself was never touched; nor indeed would a single touch have produced any effect. A bit of the blotting-paper, weighing $$\frac{1}{435}$$ of a grain, was placed so as to rest on three glands together, and all three tentacles slowly curved inwards; each gland, therefore, supposing the weight to be distributed equally, could have been pressed on by only $$\frac{1}{1355}$$ of a grain, or .0464 of a milligram. Five nearly equal