In the case of Pinguicula, as soon as an insect has been pushed for some little distance towards the midrib, immediate re-expansion would be beneficial, as the margins could not capture fresh prey until they were unfolded. The service rendered by this pushing action, as well as that from the marginal glands being brought into contact for a short time with the upper surfaces of minute captured insects, may perhaps account for the peculiar movements of the leaves; otherwise, we must look at these movements as a remnant of a more highly developed power formerly possessed by the progenitors of the genus.
In the four British species, and, as I hear from [page 380] Prof. Dyer, in most or all the species of the genus, the edges of the leaves are in some degree naturally and permanently incurved. This incurvation serves, as already shown, to prevent insects from being washed away by the rain; but it likewise serves for another end. When a number of glands have been powerfully excited by bits of meat, insects, or any other stimulus, the secretion often trickles down the leaf, and is caught by the incurved edges, instead of rolling off and being lost. As it runs down the channel, fresh glands are able to absorb the animal matter held in solution. Moreover, the secretion often collects in little pools within the channel, or in the spoon-like tips of the leaves; and I ascertained that bits of albumen, fibrin, and gluten, are here dissolved more quickly and completely than on the surface of the leaf, where the secretion cannot accumulate; and so it would be with naturally caught insects. The secretion was repeatedly seen thus to collect on the leaves of plants protected from the rain; and with exposed plants there would be still greater need of some provision to prevent, as far as possible, the secretion, with its dissolved animal matter, being wholly lost.
It has already been remarked that plants growing in a state of nature have the margins of their leaves much more strongly incurved than those grown in pots and prevented from catching many insects. We have seen that insects washed down by the rain from all parts of the leaf often lodge within the margins, which are thus excited to curl farther inwards; and we may suspect that this action, many times repeated during the life of the plant, leads to their permanent and well-marked incurvation. I regret that this view did not occur to me in time to test its truth.
It may here be added, though not immediately [page 381] bearing on our subject, that when a plant is pulled up, the leaves immediately curl downwards so as almost to conceal the roots,--a fact which has been noticed by many persons. I suppose that this is due to the same tendency which causes the outer and older leaves to lie flat on the ground. It further appears that the flower-stalks are to a certain extent irritable, for Dr. Johnson states that they "bend backwards if rudely handled."*
Secretion, Absorption, and Digestion.--I will first give my observations and experiments, and then a summary of the results.
[The Effects of Objects containing Soluble Nitrogenous Matter.
(1) Flies were placed on many leaves, and excited the glands to secrete copiously; the secretion always becoming acid, though not so before. After a time these insects were rendered so tender that their limbs and bodies could be separated by a mere touch, owing no doubt to the digestion and disintegration of their muscles. The glands in contact with a small fly continued to secrete for four days, and then became almost dry. A narrow strip of this leaf was cut off, and the glands of the longer and shorter hairs, which had lain in contact for the four days with the fly, and those which had not touched it, were compared under the microscope and presented a wonderful contrast. Those which had been in contact were filled with brownish granular matter, the others with homogeneous fluid. There could therefore be no doubt that the former had absorbed matter from the fly.
(2) Small bits of roast meat, placed on a leaf, always caused much acid secretion in the course of a few hours--in one case within 40 m.