FLESH-EATING PLANTS.
It is said that there are about a hundred kinds of flesh-eating plants all the world over, and of these, three—the sundew, butterwort, and bladderwort—grow in this country.
The member of this species best known to British botanists is the sundew. The leaves of this plant resemble in shape a flat spoon, and the surface of their blades is covered with stout, erect, hair-like objects, each with a roundish head, which is surrounded with a sticky fluid. Flies are the usual prey of the sundew. When one of these insects touches the blade of a leaf of the plant, the sticky points detain it, and the edges of the blade begin bending towards the centre, and continue to so fold themselves until the fly is entirely enveloped by them. After remaining in this position for many hours, or even days, the leaf gradually resumes its original shape, and an examination will show that nothing remains of the fly but the hard parts—as the wings, outer skin, &c. The rest of the insect has been dissolved in the sticky secretions, and absorbed by the plant.
Several of these plants have been placed near one another, and some have been covered by fine gauze, so that no flies could be caught by their leaves. The superiority of the plants that have been left in their natural state has clearly proved that a supply of animal food is not only advantageous, but almost necessary to them. (See Psalm civ. 24.)