LESSON XII.

PLANTS THAT EAT ANIMALS.

QUEER DIET.

You have now heard of so many wonders about plants, that perhaps nothing new which you will hear of them will surprise you. You may not even say “Oh!” when I tell you that some plants eat bugs,—as ants, gnats, and flies,—and will not even refuse a nice bit of raw meat!

These plants are called the “flesh-eaters.” The name is a long one,—carnivora. Here is a verse about them. As it has long, hard words in it, I wish to say I did not make it.

“What’s this I hearAbout the new carnivora?Can little plantsEat bugs and ants?Why this is retrograding!Surely the fareOf flowers is air,Or sunshine sweet.They should not eat,Or do aught so degrading.”

“What’s this I hear

About the new carnivora?

Can little plants

Eat bugs and ants?

Why this is retrograding!

Surely the fare

Of flowers is air,

Or sunshine sweet.

They should not eat,

Or do aught so degrading.”

These animal-eating plants are so made that they catch insects, and suck up, or draw out, the juice of their bodies. This juice the plant seems to feed upon. It has been seen to pass from the leaf which catches the insect into the stem and other parts of the plant.

In all these insect-eating plants, it is the leaf that does the killing and eating.

I will first tell you of a little water-plant of this queer class. It is called the bladder-plant. It is one of the water-plants which float free. On the fringe-like leaves are little bags or bladders. These are full of air, and help the plant to float. Themouth of these little bags has a door opening inward. It is set round with hairs.

The little insect-larvæ which live in water, and other tiny animals that swim about, see these little floating bags, with the small, green doors. The creatures act as if they wanted to know what was inside such pretty places. Finally they go in. To go in is easy. But once in, they cannot get out. The little door will not open outwards.

After a day or two, the animal thus trapped is all eaten. Only the hard, horny parts, which serve for its bones, are left.

There is another small plant, called the sun-dew, which eats insects. Any of you who live near a cranberry bog can find sun-dew growing on the edges of the bog. It is a plant that lives in wet places.

The sun-dew has a number of leaves about the size and shape of pearl shirt-buttons. They grow on short stems close to the ground. The leaves are covered with red hairs. These hairs are called tentacles. As many as a hundred and fifty will grow on one little leaf.

From these long, red hairs come tiny drops of sticky stuff. These drops gleam like dew. From them, and the little red, hairy rays, the plant has its name.

The insect comes flying by. The “dew” looks like something good to eat. But as soon as the insect touches the leaf, the juice holds its legs fast. The insect begins to kick, but cannot get away.

The struggles of the insect seem to irritate the plant. For, when the hairs are touched, they pour out more juice. Not only this, but the touch of the insect on the hairs causes the leaf to bend upwards. It bends over, over, folding down, until it is all shut up upon the insect.

Here is the insect held in the folded leaf. The glue runs out over it faster than ever. When you think how the insect breathes through tubes wound over all its body,[11]you will see that it must soon smother, held in this sticky juice.

When the leaf is bent over the insect, the juice changes. When the leaf is so bent, the juice is acid, or sour. This acid juice melts up the body of the insect. As it melts, the mouths, or glands, of the leaf seem to suck it up.

The sun-dew will melt up and devour bits of meat laid on the leaf. Water-drops on the leaf will not make it bend. But when milk-drops are put on the leaf, it bends, and sucks them up.

The leaf will not close over a piece of stone, or glass.But it will close over a bit of boiled egg, or a scrap of bone. It melts the bone so soft, that you can stick a needle into it.

Another animal-eating plant is the Venus’s-flytrap. It grows only in North Carolina. The leaf-blade has sharp bristles about the upper part. Each half of the leaf hollows a little, so that when the two halves come together they form a small pouch.

The leaf has some fine hairs which an insect cannot but touch, when it moves on the leaf. When the hairs are touched, the leaf bends. The bristles on the edges lock together, so that the insect is held in a cage, even before the leaf closes.

When the leaf is fully closed, the insect is held in a bag prison. The glands then pour out juice to melt up the body of the insect. As it melts, its juices are drawn into the plant.

The Venus’s-flytrap does not seem to depend alone on the chance lighting of the insect upon it. It has a sweet juice on the leaf to attract insects. But it does not need as much sticky fluid as the sun-dew, to hold the insect. The two halves of the leaf snap together like a trap. They give the insect no time to get away.

Another very odd plant which eats insects is the side-saddle plant. This is often called the pitcher-plant.It looks far more like a pitcher than like a saddle. The leaves of this plant are like a beautiful pitcher painted red and green.

These plants are common in the South. They grow also in marshy places in the North. I remember how happy I was when my father brought me three of them, when I was a little girl.

There are two or three kinds of these pitcher-plants. One kind is green, spotted with red, and has some yellow lines. Another kind is green with purple marks. You must notice that the inner side of the lid is of the brightest color.

Why is this? Insects see the gay color and fly to the plant. The leaves of the pitcher-plant are large, and they are bent and the edges grow together nearly all the way up. This forms a close pitcher which will hold water.

The seam where the leaves are joined is usually of a light yellow color. It is covered with a honey-like juice, in small drops. The rim of the pitcher and the inside of the neck have also these honey drops.

The insects, attracted by the gay color, come to feed on the honey. They feed along the seam and rim, and so into the throat of the pitcher. They seem to get dizzy, or so full of honey, that they feel dull.They get down into the pitcher, and—there they stay!

Why do they not come out? For three reasons. The inside of the pitcher has a band of hairs growing downward. The insects cannot creep up through these. The hairs turn them back, as a brush fence turns cattle.

Then, too, part of the inside of the pitcher is so smooth that insects fall back when they walk on it. Still, as they can walk on glass, I think their slipping back must be due more to being dizzy, than to the smooth surface.

And here is the third reason, the pitcher is half full of liquid, and this liquid seems to make the insect dizzy. This liquid looks like pure, clear water. It tastes like the root of the plant,—a biting taste.

It is not like the honey-dew which lies on the seam for a bait. In this liquid, inside, the insects are drowned.

You may find many dead insects in one pitcher. I told you a little about this, in the last book, in the lessons on flies.[12]The dead bodies of the insects melted up seem to help to feed the plant. But often a pitcher catches more insects than the plant can use.

There are many kinds of pitcher-plants in very warm lands. You may be able to see some of them in hot-houses. All have the same general way of killing and eating insects.

FOOTNOTES:[11]See Nature Reader, No. 2, p. 77.[12]Nature Reader, No. 2, pp. 59-60.

[11]See Nature Reader, No. 2, p. 77.

[12]Nature Reader, No. 2, pp. 59-60.

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