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Rh upon the victim, and it now requires a very considerable force to open the trap. If nothing is caught, the trap presently reopens of itself, and is ready for another attempt. With regard to the object of this strange proceeding, there can be no doubt that the insect is retained until the softer parts of the body are completely dissolved in the thick mucous fluid which is exuded by the leaves; and Prof. Asa Gray considers that the evidence is nearly complete that the animal matter is actually absorbed in the leaf itself. It is even stated that pieces of raw beef are digested by the leaf in the same manner! Seeing, however, that it is now generally admitted by physiologists that even pure, water is not absorbed through the pores of leaves, which serve only for the exhalation of vapor, this explanation is very hard of belief. The "pitchers" of the Nepenthes, or pitcher-plant, act also as fly-traps, large numbers of insects being enticed into them by the fluid they secrete, and are then unable to extricate themselves.

The sensitiveness of the leaves of plants is but an excessive development of the phenomenon known as the Sleep of Plants. In the case of the Sensitive-plant the position assumed by the leaf and leaflets in the night is the same as that which they assume when disturbed in the daytime; and with many other plants, such as the clover and the Robinia or "acacia" tree, the change in the position of the leaflets, morning and evening, is a familiar fact. The Sleep of Plants extends also to the flowers, many plants opening their flowers only at particular times of the day. Thus the major convolvulus of the gardens and the goat's-beard open at sunrise and always close by about noon, the evening primrose opens only in the evening, and many others last for but a single day. So regular is the time of opening and closing of some flowers, that Linnæus drew up a list, which he termed a "floral clock." The singular part of the affair is, that with many flowers the time of opening and closing is determined, not by the degree of light, or by the temperature or humidity of the atmosphere, but absolutely by the hour of the day. The giant water-lily of the Amazons, the Victoria regia, opens, for the first time, about 6, and closes in a few hours, then opens again at 6 the next day, remaining open until the afternoon, when it closes and sinks below the water. Other plants, again, open their flowers only in the bright sunshine, as the beautiful yellow centaury (or Chlora perfoliata) the sundew (Drosera rotundifolia), etc. In the latter plant, belonging to the same natural order as the Venus's Fly-trap, and possessing a slight irritability of the leaves, Mr. Worthington Smith has noticed also a strong sensitiveness in the petals, the flowers closing suddenly when touched.

Irritability or sensitiveness, similar to that of the leaves of the Sensitive-plant, is not uncommon in the flower. An instance has been alluded to in the petals of the sundew; it occurs also in the lip of the corolla of several of the orchis tribe. It is, however, more common in the proper organs of reproduction, as the style of Stylidium, the