The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1874-10-01
Fly.Catchinq Plants.

THAT p1dutS cdtCu luStCtS Has lOUg
been known; but it has been left for
Mr.. Darwin in Europe and Mr.. VIM
Candy and Prof. Gray in our country to
demonstrate beyond all shadow of doubt
that the object of the fy-catching plant
is literally to eat the insect. The sub
iect has thus been invested with an in
terest quite novel in botanical history,
and it is not surprising that it attracts
attention in circles widely removed from
the ordinary scientific fields. The two
leading scientific bodies Of the world,
the British and the American Associa-
tons, both had the subject prominently
before them In the American, DR.. Mel
lichamp, of South Carolina, had paper
on the SorraceDia rartolaris, which was
read by Prof. Gray, confirming views of
his with which the readers of the
Tadepeadent have already been made
acquainted. The insects are undoubt-
edly digested by the liquor secreted
in the pitchers. Prof. Riley, the State
Entomologist of Missouri, contributed
very interesting paper on the insects
found in the pitchers; and, strange to
say though most insects are destroyed
by what might be termed the gastric
juice, there is a species which
deposits its eggs therein and is thereby
nourished, supported, and brought for
ward to the usual stages of insect per
Th;c Arc ;rl,t
strange. The question occurs: If some
insects are destroyed by the fluid, why
not all? But, as Prof Riley shows, there
are similar questions to be asked in
other cases. The bot fly in animals is
an instance. The Sarracenias require in
sect fertilization, and it may be that the
insect SO tenderly raised by this savage
plant and clothed with an immunity
truders is only SO favored in order that
the plant might make use of it for its
own fertilizing purposes! Mr.. Candy
was again forward in the field by the
communication Of the additional fact
that the Californian pitcher plant Oar
lil.gtoaia CalJornica) was also an insect
eater. While these facts were being de-
veloped at home DR.. Hooker, before the
British Association, was giving history
Of insectivorous plants, complimenting
American botanists on their discoveries
and explaining the bearings of the new
facts on biological science. Animals live
on plants; and how plants, if first in the
order of creation, came to live on insects
is a problem which takes possession of
DR.. Hookers mind. We may imagine"
he says, that plants accidentally per-
mitted the accumulation of insects in
some parts Of their structure, and the
practice became developed because it
was found to be useful" He then
imagines how leaf similar to one of
Nymphea might be SO modified as to be-
come hollow pitcher, and so on until
the whole apparatus for insect catching
and insect eating became developed.
This, of course, involves the idea that the
plant conceived design before its ac-
complishment, proposition unsupported
by facts and deriving value, perhaps,
only because it seems to be entertained
by man of eminence like DR.. Hooker.
1t seems too soon yet to originate specu-
lation as to the origin of this power in
plants. Numerous observations are
needed Mr. W. w. Bailey contributes
a chapter to the September american
Naturalist on 44zalea riscosa, the sweet
scented swamp honey -suckle. He finds
that the viscid matter about the flowers
serves the purpose of tiy-catching; but
originated by the plant for that
especial purpose, in accordance with DR..
Hooker's suggestion, is another matter
n. Y. Indepeadeat. ~ &Atf