uppermost cells of the pedicels, and the protoplasmic lining was
slightly separated from the walls of the lower cells. After 2 hrs. 30
m. from the time of first immersion, the large globules within the
glands of the longer hairs were converted into masses of darker brown
granular matter. Hence from what we have seen with Primula sinensis,
there can be little doubt that these masses originally consisted of
living protoplasm.
A drop of a weak infusion of raw meat was placed on a leaf, and after 2
hrs. 30 m. many spheres could be seen within the glands. These spheres,
when looked at again after 30 m., had slightly changed their positions
and forms, and one had separated into two; but the changes were not
quite like those which the protoplasm of Drosera undergoes. These
hairs, moreover, had not been examined before immersion, and there were
similar spheres in some glands which had not been touched by the
infusion.
Erica tetralix. A few long glandular hairs project from the margins of
the upper surfaces of the leaves. The pedicels are formed of several
rows of cells, and support rather large globular heads, secreting
viscid matter, by which minute insects are occasionally, though rarely,
caught. Some leaves were left for 23 hrs. in a weak infusion of raw
meat and in water, and the hairs were then compared, but they differed
very little or not at all. In both cases the contents of the cells
seemed rather more granular than they were before; but the granules did
not exhibit any movement. Other leaves were left for 23 hrs. in a
solution of one part of carbonate of ammonia to 218 of water, and here
again the granular matter appeared to have increased [page 352] in
amount; but one such mass retained exactly the same form as before
after an interval of 5 hrs., so that it could hardly have consisted of
living protoplasm. These glands seem to have very little or no power of
absorption, certainly much less than those of the foregoing plants.
Mirabilis longiflora. The stems and both surfaces of the leaves bear
viscid hairs. young plants, from 12 to 18 inches in height in my
greenhouse, caught so many minute Diptera, Coleoptera, and larv , that
they were quite dusted with them. The hairs are short, of unequal
lengths, formed of a single row of cells, surmounted by an enlarged
cell which secretes viscid matter. These terminal cells or glands
contain granules and often globules of granular matter. Within a gland
303