lAre the hairs instinct with reason, and do they act intelligently? For, seei they turn towafds the Victim SIOwly,and as surely bend above him, and, at last, they pin him down securely, smothered in their viscid "dewdrops." There he dies, and rotting there, gives of his substance to support the plant which lured him to destruction. Years age the greatest of all Naturalists, by patient study and‘ investigation, determined that the hairs of Sundew are glands secreting an adhesive fluid, with all the essential properties of gastric juice, capable of converting its victims' bodies into digestible constituents which the plant assimilates and turns to profit for its better faring among its neighbors.

Have we not here, then, ingenuity, craft and cunning, treachery and well-laid plans? By its baited trap and subtle snare, and its shrewd discrimination, by its motion almost muscular, and its strangely animal-like digestion - this, our second murderer, wins a rare distinction, and we Stand beside him lost in wonder, almost prone to overlook his criminal record in our admiration of his methods.

1 Narrow-leaved Sundew (Drosera intermedia) 2 Round‘leaved Sundew (Drosera rotundifolia)

3 Pitcher-plant (Sarracenia purourea)