Abstract
WE have here a record, reprinted from the pages of Flora, of a very careful series of experiments on the cause of the “spontaneous” movements of the glands of Drosera and other similar organs when irritated say by contact with a fly. Comparing the well-known explanation given by De Vries and others of the movements of tendrils—that contact causes an acceleration of growth in the organ, not on the side touched, but the opposite side, and consequently a concave curving round the touching object—Batalin offers the same explanation of the curvature of the tentacles of Drosera when irritated by a fly, viz., an acceleration of growth on the side opposite to the one touched, and in consequence a concave curvature. While admitting the care with which Batalin has performed his experiments, we fail to see how his explanation accounts for some of the well-known phenomena of these singular plants; as, for instance, the fact vouched for by several observers, that glands which are not themselves irritated exhibit the same concave curvature as those that are, and especially those so circumstantially described by Darwin as to the extreme sensitiveness of the tentacles of Drosera to the most dilute ammoniacal solutions, while they are quite insensitive to pure water. The “spontaneous” curvature Batalin believes to be a function of growth, and to be displayed in proportion to the faculty of growth possessed by the organ.
Mechanik der Bewegungen der Insektenfressenden Pflanzen.
Von A. Batalin
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Mechanik der Bewegungen der Insektenfressenden Pflanzen . Nature 16, 359 (1877). https://doi.org/10.1038/016359b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/016359b0