seems to be absorbed only by the glands, yet it enters a cut surface
much more quickly than a gland. Strips of the rind of a flower-stem
were torn off, and the cells of the pedicels were seen to contain only
colourless transparent fluid; those of the glands including as usual
some granular matter. These strips were then immersed in the same
solution as before (one part of the carbonate to 109 of water), and in
a few minutes granular matter appeared in the lowercells of all the
pedicels. The action invariably commenced (for I tried the experiment
repeatedly) in the lowest cells, and therefore close to the torn
surface, and then gradually travelled up the hairs until it reached the
glands, in a reversed direction to what occurs in uninjured specimens.
The glands then became discoloured, and the previously contained
granular matter was aggregated into larger masses. Two short bits of a
flower-stem were also left for 2 hrs. 40 m. in a weaker solution of one
part of the carbonate to 218 of water; and in both specimens the
pedicels of the hairs near the cut ends now contained much granular
matter; and the glands were completely discoloured.
Lastly, bits of meat were placed on some glands; these were examined
after 23 hrs., as were others, which had apparently not long before
caught minute flies; but they did not present any [page 348] difference
from the glands of other hairs. Perhaps there may not have been time
enough for absorption. I think so as some glands, on which dead flies
had evidently long lain, were of a pale dirty purple colour or even
almost colourless, and the granular matter within them presented an
unusual and somewhat peculiar appearance. That these glands had
absorbed animal matter from the flies, probably by exosmose into the
viscid secretion, we may infer, not only from their changed colour, but
because, when placed in a solution of carbonate of ammonia, some of the
cells in their pedicels become filled with granular matter; whereas the
cells of other hairs, which had not caught flies, after being treated
with the same solution for the same length of time, contained only a
small quantity of granular matter. But more evidence is necessary
before we fully admit that the glands of this saxifrage can absorb,
even with ample time allowed, animal matter from the minute insects
which they occasionally and accidentally capture.
Saxifraga rotundifolia (?). The hairs on the flower-stems of this
species are longer than those just described, and bear pale brown
glands. Many were examined, and the cells of the pedicels were quite
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