these fourteen leaves had become more or less inflected, I again tested the secretion, selecting glands which had not as yet reached the centre or touched any object, and it was now plainly acid. The degree of acidity of the secretion varied somewhat on the glands of the same leaf. On some leaves, a few tentacles did not, from some unknown cause, become inflected, as often happens; and in five instances their secretion was found not to be in the least acid; whilst the secretion of the adjoining and inflected tentacles on the same leaf was decidedly acid. With leaves excited by particles of glass placed on the central glands, the secretion which collects on the disc beneath them was much more strongly acid than that poured forth from the exterior tentacles, which were as yet only moderately inflected. When bits of albumen (and this is naturally alkaline), or bits of meat were placed on the disc, the secretion collected beneath them was likewise strongly acid. As raw meat moistened with water is slightly acid, I compared its action on litmus paper before it was placed on the leaves, and afterwards when bathed in the secretion; and there could not be the least doubt that the latter was very much more acid. I have indeed tried hundreds of times the state of the secretion on the discs of leaves which were inflected over various objects, and never failed to find it acid. We may, therefore, conclude that the secretion from unexcited leaves, though extremely viscid, is not acid or only slightly so, but that it becomes acid, or much more strongly so, after the tentacles have begun to bend over any inorganic or organic object; and still more strongly acid after the tentacles have remained for some time closely clasped over any object. I may here remind the reader that the secretion [page 88] appears to be to a certain extent antiseptic, as it checks the appearance of mould and infusoria, thus preventing for a time the discoloration and decay of such substances as the white of an egg, cheese, &c. It therefore acts like the gastric juice of the higher animals, which is known to arrest putrefaction by destroying the microzymes.