From Lawson Tait   24 June [1875]¹

The year is established by the reference to the article in the Spectator (see n. 2, below).

An unsigned article, ‘Flower–traps’, in the Spectator, 19 June 1875, pp. 784–5, reported on Tait’s lecture at the Birmingham Natural History Society (see n. 4, below). The writer noted Tait’s scepticism concerning the ability of insect-catching plants to absorb nutrients through the leaf surface, and his alternative explanation that the products of digestion ran down the leaf-stalk to the roots, where they were absorbed in the usual way. The writer compared insect catching in plants to human pursuits that were not advantageous to survival, and concluded that the principle of natural selection was a limited one.

Tait’s letter to the editor appeared in the Spectator, 26 June 1875, pp. 816–17. He argued that his observations suggesting that products of digestion might be channelled to the roots supported CD’s theory, because it suggested an intermediary step in the development of insectivory, and further noted that he would not come to a conclusion about absorption by leaves until Insectivorous plants was published, and he had weighed the evidence offered by CD.

Tait read a paper on insectivorous plants to the Birmingham Natural History Society on 15 June 1875; it was reported in the Birmingham Daily Post, 16 June 1875, p. 5. Tait summarised his experiments in a letter published in Nature, 29 July 1875, pp. 251–2.