Darwin Correspondence Project

From `Botanische Zeitung' (Regensburg) 1833. p. 96 Notice of Prof. Burnett on irritable plants & the insects wh. they secure.

``Ich habe einen Versuch mit 2 Exemplaren der Dionæa muscipula gemacht, und zu dem Ende 2 von beinahe gleicher Gr¨osse & Gesundheit gew¨ahlt. Die eine davon bekam weder W¨urmer noch Fliegen u.s.w., w¨ahrend die andere t¨aglich mit kleinen Ueberbleibseln von Thieren gef¨uttert wurde: das Ergebniss dieser Versuchs war, dass die erste pflanze, bei ihrer strengen Di¨at, allm¨ahlig hinwelkte, die andere aber, bei ihrer Fleischkost(?) sich vortrefflich befand.''—

Nuttal, in Gena. No. American Plants, p. 277, (note)— ``This sensibility is said to reside principally in the 4 capillary processes situated upon the disk of the lamina. While engaged in collecting this plant in its singularly insulated situation near Wilmington, in North Carolina, I had occasion to observe that a detached leaf would make repeated efforts towards disclosing itself to the influence of the Sun, these attempts consisted in an undulating motion of the marginal ciliæ, accompanied by a partial opening & succeeding collapse of the lamina, which at length terminated in a complete expansion & in the destruction of sensibility.''—

Note fr. Drummond. Swan River Boty. Kew Jl. Boty. v. 345.

Speakg. of a sp. of Elatine.— ``I have ascertained that in the minute submerged concealed flowers, the anthers burst internally, & the seeds arrive at maturity in a much shorter time than they require when the inflorescence is exposed to the air.'' x x x x x x