There is another wide difference in the action of leaves which enclose objects, such as bits of wood, cork, balls of paper, or which have had their filaments merely touched, and those which enclose organic bodies yielding soluble nitrogenous matter.  In the former case the leaves, as we have seen, open in under 24 hrs. and are then ready, even before being fully-expanded, to shut again.  But if they have closed over nitrogen-yielding bodies, they remain closely shut for many days; and after re-expanding are torpid, and never act again, or only after a considerable interval of time.  In four instances, leaves after catching insects never reopened, but began to wither, remaining closed—­in one case for fifteen days over a fly; in a second, for twenty-four days, though the fly was small; in a third for twenty-four days over a woodlouse; and in a fourth, for thirty-five days over a large Tipula.  In two other cases leaves remained closed for at least nine days over flies, and for how many more I do not know.  It should, however, be added that in two instances in which very small insects had been naturally caught the leaf opened as quickly as if nothing had been caught; and I suppose that this was due to such small insects not having been crushed or not having excreted any animal matter, so that the glands were not excited.  Small angular bits of albumen and gelatine were placed at both ends of three leaves, two of which remained closed for thirteen and the other for twelve days.  Two other leaves remained closed over bits of [page 310] meat for eleven days, a third leaf for eight days, and a fourth (but this had been cracked and injured) for only six days.  Bits of cheese, or casein, were placed at one end and albumen at the other end of three leaves; and the ends with the former opened after six, eight, and nine days, whilst the opposite ends opened a little later.  None of the above bits of meat, albumen, &c., exceeded a cube of 1/10 of an inch (2.54 mm.) in size, and were sometimes smaller; yet these small portions sufficed to keep the leaves closed for many days.  Dr. Canby informs me that leaves remain shut for a longer time over insects than over meat; and from what I have seen, I can well believe that this is the case, especially if the insects are large.

In all the above cases, and in many others in which leaves remained closed for a long but unknown period over insects naturally caught, they were more or less torpid when they reopened.  Generally they were so torpid during many succeeding days that no excitement of the filaments caused the least movement.  In one instance, however, on the day after a leaf opened which had clasped a fly, it closed with extreme slowness when one of its filaments was touched; and although no object was left enclosed, it was so torpid that it did not re-open for the second time until 44 hrs. had elapsed.  In a second case, a leaf which had expanded after remaining closed for at least nine days over a fly, when greatly irritated, moved one alone