Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- CHAPTER I DROSERA ROTUNDIFOLIA, OR THE COMMON SUN-DEW
- CHAPTER II THE MOVEMENTS OF THE TENTACLES FROM THE CONTACT OF SOLID BODIES
- CHAPTER III AGGREGATION OF THE PROTOPLASM WITHIN THE CELLS OF THE TENTACLES
- CHAPTER IV THE EFFECTS OF HEAT ON THE LEAVES
- CHAPTER V THE EFFECTS OF NON-NITROGENOUS AND NITROGENOUS ORGANIC FLUIDS ON THE LEAVES
- CHAPTER VI THE DIGESTIVE POWER OF THE SECRETION OF DEOSERA
- CHAPTER VII THE EFFECTS OF SALTS OF AMMONIA
- CHAPTER VIII THE EFFECTS OF VARIOUS OTHER SALTS, AND ACIDS, ON THE LEAVES
- CHAPTER IX THE EFFECTS OF CERTAIN ALKALOID POISONS, OTHER SUBSTANCES AND VAPOURS
- CHAPTER X ON THE SENSITIVENESS OF THE LEAVES, AND ON THE LINES OF TRANSMISSION OF THE MOTOR IMPULSE
- CHAPTER XI RECAPITULATION OF THE CHIEF OBSERVATIONS ON DROSERA ROTUNDIFOLIA
- CHAPTER XII ON THE STRUCTURE AND MOVEMENTS OF SOME OTHER SPECIES OF DROSERA
- CHAPTER XIII DIONÆA MUSCIPULA
- CHAPTER XIV ALDROVANDA VESICULOSA
- CHAPTER XV DROSOPHYLLUM — RORIDULA — BYBLIS — GLANDULAR HAIRS OF OTHER PLANTS — CONCLUDING REMARKS ON THE DROSERACEÆ
- CHAPTER XVI PINGUICULA
- CHAPTER XVII UTRICULARIA
- CHAPTER XVIII UTRICULARIA (continued)
- ERRATA
- INDEX
CHAPTER X - ON THE SENSITIVENESS OF THE LEAVES, AND ON THE LINES OF TRANSMISSION OF THE MOTOR IMPULSE
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 August 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- CHAPTER I DROSERA ROTUNDIFOLIA, OR THE COMMON SUN-DEW
- CHAPTER II THE MOVEMENTS OF THE TENTACLES FROM THE CONTACT OF SOLID BODIES
- CHAPTER III AGGREGATION OF THE PROTOPLASM WITHIN THE CELLS OF THE TENTACLES
- CHAPTER IV THE EFFECTS OF HEAT ON THE LEAVES
- CHAPTER V THE EFFECTS OF NON-NITROGENOUS AND NITROGENOUS ORGANIC FLUIDS ON THE LEAVES
- CHAPTER VI THE DIGESTIVE POWER OF THE SECRETION OF DEOSERA
- CHAPTER VII THE EFFECTS OF SALTS OF AMMONIA
- CHAPTER VIII THE EFFECTS OF VARIOUS OTHER SALTS, AND ACIDS, ON THE LEAVES
- CHAPTER IX THE EFFECTS OF CERTAIN ALKALOID POISONS, OTHER SUBSTANCES AND VAPOURS
- CHAPTER X ON THE SENSITIVENESS OF THE LEAVES, AND ON THE LINES OF TRANSMISSION OF THE MOTOR IMPULSE
- CHAPTER XI RECAPITULATION OF THE CHIEF OBSERVATIONS ON DROSERA ROTUNDIFOLIA
- CHAPTER XII ON THE STRUCTURE AND MOVEMENTS OF SOME OTHER SPECIES OF DROSERA
- CHAPTER XIII DIONÆA MUSCIPULA
- CHAPTER XIV ALDROVANDA VESICULOSA
- CHAPTER XV DROSOPHYLLUM — RORIDULA — BYBLIS — GLANDULAR HAIRS OF OTHER PLANTS — CONCLUDING REMARKS ON THE DROSERACEÆ
- CHAPTER XVI PINGUICULA
- CHAPTER XVII UTRICULARIA
- CHAPTER XVIII UTRICULARIA (continued)
- ERRATA
- INDEX
Summary
We have seen in the previous chapters that many widely different stimulants, mechanical and chemical, excite the movement of the tentacles, as well as of the blade of the leaf; and we must now consider, firstly, what are the points which are irritable or sensitive, and secondly how the motor impulse is transmitted from one point to another. The glands are almost exclusively the seat of irritability, yet this irritability must extend for a very short distance below them; for when they were cut off with a sharp pair of scissors without being themselves touched, the tentacles often became inflected. These headless tentacles frequently re-expanded; and when afterwards drops of the two most powerful known stimulants were placed on the cut-off ends, no effect was produced. Nevertheless these headless tentacles are capable of subsequent inflection if excited by an impulse sent from the disc. I succeeded on several occasions in crushing glands between fine pincers, but this did not excite any movement; nor did raw meat and salts of ammonia, when placed on such crushed glands. It is probable that they were killed so instantly that they were not able to transmit any motor impulse; for in six observed cases (in two of which however the gland was quite pinched off) the protoplasm within the cells of the tentacles did not become aggregated; whereas in some adjoining tentacles, which were inflected from having been roughly touched by the pincers, it was well aggregated.
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- Insectivorous Plants , pp. 229 - 261Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009First published in: 1875