Below the Ant-eater is the common Drosera, or Sundew, one of our British carnivorous plants. It captures insects, just as has been narrated of the Dionea. But, instead of the leaf closing upon the insect, it arrests its prey by means of little globules of viscous fluid, which exude from the tips of the hairs with which the surface of the leaf is covered. As soon as the insect touches the hairs, they close over it, bind it down, and keep it there until it is digested. Several species of Drosera are known in England, and are found in wet and marshy places. Another plant, the Green-winged Meadow Orchis (_Orchis morio_), has been known to act the part of the Drosera. A fly had contrived to push its head against the viscous fluid of the stigmatic surface, and, not being able to extricate itself, was found sticking there. Next comes a portion of the web of the common Garden Spider (_Epeira diadema_). We have already treated of this web as a net, and we will now see how it comes within the present category. In the web of the spider there are at least two distinct kinds of threads. Those which radiate from the centre to the circumference are strong and smooth, while those which unite them are much slighter, and are covered with tiny globules set at regular intervals. When the web is newly spun, these globules are found to be nearly as tenacious as birdlime, and it is by these means that an insect which falls into the web is arrested, and cannot extricate itself until the spider can seize it. After awhile the globules become dry, refuse to perform their office, and then the spider has to construct another web. So numerous are these globules that, according to Mr. Blackwall’s calculations, an ordinary net contains between eighty and ninety thousand. Below the figure of the web itself are shown the two kinds of thread, the upper bearing the globules, and the lower representing one of the plain radiating threads. WAR AND HUNTING. CHAPTER V. Reverted Spikes and their Modifications.--The Wire Mouse-trap.--George III. and the Trap.--Fate of a Royal Finger.--The Crab and Lobster Pot.--The Eel-pot.--Cocoon of the Emperor-moth and its Structure.--“Catchpoll” of the Middle Ages.--Deer-trap of India.--Jaws of Pike and Serpent.--The Grass-snake.--Jaws of Shark and their Power.--Spiked Defences.--The Park Fence, the Garden Wall, and the Chevaux-de-frise.--The “Square” of Infantry Manœuvres.--The Abattis, and its Structure and Power.--Ranjows and Caltrops.--Ancient Ranjows in Ireland.--Hedgehog.--Porcupine Echidna.--House-builder Caterpillar and its Home.--Repagula of Ascalaphus.--Tearing Weapons.--The “Wag-nuk” of India.--Armed Gauntlet of the Middle Ages.--Shark-tooth Gauntlet of Samoa, and the Uses to which it was put.--A terrible Warrior.--The Tiger’s Claw.--Sport and Earnest. REVERTED SPIKES.