white streaks.  These streaks disappeared after an additional period of 6 hrs. 30 m.; and by next morning (i.e. 48 hrs. from the time when the cubes were first placed on the glands) the liquefied matter was wholly absorbed.  A cube of albumen was left on another tall gland, which first absorbed the secretion and after 24 hrs. poured forth a fresh supply.  This cube, now surrounded by secretion, was left on the gland for an additional 24 hrs., but was very little, if at all, acted on.  We may, therefore, conclude, either that the secretion from the tall glands has little power of digestion, though strongly acid, or that the amount poured forth from a single gland is insufficient to dissolve a particle of albumen which within the same time would have been dissolved by the secretion from several of the small sessile glands.  Owing to the death of my last plant, I was unable to ascertain which of these alternatives is the true one.

Four minute shreds of pure fibrin were placed, each resting on one, two, or three of the taller glands.  In the course of 2 hrs. 30 m. the secretion was all absorbed, and the shreds were left almost dry.  They [page 341] were then pushed on to the sessile glands.  One shred, after 2 hrs. 30 m., seemed quite dissolved, but this may have been a mistake.  A second, when examined after 17 hrs. 25 m., was liquefied, but the liquid as seen under the microscope still contained floating granules of fibrin.  The other two shreds were completely liquefied after 21 hrs. 30 m.; but in one of the drops a very few granules could still be detected.  These, however, were dissolved after an additional interval of 6 hrs. 30 m.; and the surface of the leaf for some distance all round was covered with limpid fluid.  It thus appears that Drosophyllum digests albumen and fibrin rather more quickly than Drosera can; and this may perhaps be attributed to the acid, together probably with some small amount of the ferment, being present in the secretion, before the glands have been stimulated; so that digestion begins at once.

Concluding Remarks.—­The linear leaves of Drosophyllum differ but slightly from those of certain species of Drosera; the chief differences being, firstly, the presence of minute, almost sessile, glands, which, like those of Dionaea, do not secrete until they are excited by the absorption of nitrogenous matter.  But glands of this kind are present on the leaves of Drosera binata, and appear to be represented by the papillae on the leaves of Drosera rotundifolia.  Secondly, the presence of tentacles on the backs of the leaves; but we have seen that a few tentacles, irregularly placed and tending towards abortion, are retained on the backs of the leaves of Drosera binata.  There are greater differences in function between the two genera.  The most important one is that the tentacles of Drosophyllum have no power of movement; this loss being partially replaced by the drops of viscid [page 342] secretion being readily withdrawn