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Show • 262 DROSERA ROTUNDIFOLIA. CHAP. XI. CHAPTER XI. RECAPITULATIO~ OF THE CHIEF 0BSERVATIO~S ON D ROSERA RO'l'UNDIFOLIA. As summaries have been given to most of the chapters, it will be sufficient here to recapitulate, as briefly as I can, the chief points. In the first chapter a preliminary sketch was given of the structure of the leaves, and . of the manner in which they capture insects. This is effected by drops of extre1nel y viscid fluid surrounding the glands and by the inward movement of the tentacles. As the plants gain most of their nutriment by this means, their roots are very poorly developed ; and they often grow in places w~ere hardly any other plant except mosses can exi~t. The glands have the power of absorption, b.e~Ides that. of sec.retion. They are extremely sensitive to vanous stimulants, namely repeated touches th~ pressure of minute particles, the absorption of anu~.al ~atter and of various fluids, heat, and galvanic action. A tentacle with a bit of raw meat on the gland has ~een seen .to begin bending in 10 s., to be strongly 1ncurved 1n 5 m., and to reach the centre of .the leaf in half an hour. The blade of the leaf often becomes so much inflected that it forms a cup, enclosing any object placed on it. A gland, ~hen excited, not only sends some in~ uen~e down Its own tentacle, causing it to bend, but ~Ikewise to the surrounding tentacles, which become Incurve~ ; so that the bending place can be acted on by an Impulse received from opposite directions,. CHAP. XI. GENERAL SUMMARY. 263 namely from the gland on the suinmit of the same tentacle, and from one or more glands of the neighbouring tentacles. Tentacles, when inflected, re-expand after a time, and during this process the glands secrete less copiously, or become dry. As soon as they begin to secrete again, the tentacles are ready to re-act; and this may be repeated at least three, pro ba bl y many more times. It was shown in the second chapter that animal sub-stances placed on the discs cause much more prompt and energetic inflection than do inorganic bodies of the same size, or mere mechanical irritation; but there is a still more marked difference in the greater length of time during which the tentacles remain inflected over bodies yielding soluble and nutritious matter, than over those which do not yield such m~tter. E)(tremely minute particles of glass, cinders, hair, thread, precipitated chalk, &c., when placed on the glands of the outer tentacles, cause them to bend. A particle, unless it sinks through the secretion and actually touches the surface of the gland with some one point, does not produce any effect. A little bit of thin human hair l oHo 0 of an inch (-203 mm.) in length, and weighing only •nr}:ro of a grain ("000822 mg.), though largely supported by the dense secretion, suffices to induce movement. It is not probable that the pressure in this case could have amounted to that from the millionth of a grain. Even smaller particles cause a slight movement, as could be seen through a lens. Larger particles than those of which the measurements have been given cause no sensation when placed on the tongue, one of the most sensitive parts of the human body. Movement ensues if a gland is momentarily touched three or four times; but if touched only once or twice, |