Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1884-11-19
CURI0SITIES OF NATURE.
Deceitful Plants that Entrap
Flies and Insects.
Some Gases Of Misplaced Confidence that
ore Extremely Curious

The majority of legitimate flowers
CIR | may be allowed the expression)
get themselves decently fertilzed by
bees and butterflies, who may be con-
sldered as representing the regular
trade, and who carry the formulating
pollen on their heads and proboscides
from one blossom to another, while en-
gagged in their usual business of gather
Ing honey all the day from every open
ing flower. But Ranlesia, on the con-
trary, has positively acquired a falla-
cious external resemblance to warm
tea, and decidedly high flavor on
purpose to take in the too trustful Su-
matran flies. When fly sights and
scents one, he Tor rather she) proceeds
at once to settle in the cup, and there
lay number of eggs in what it natu-
rally regards as a very fine decaying
carcass. Then, having busted itself
over in the process with plenty of pol
len from this first flower, it flies away
conlidingly to the next promising bud,
In search both of food for itself and Of
a lifting nursery for its future little
ones. In doing so, it Of course fertili-
yes all the blossoms that it visits one
after another by busting them sue
cessively with each others pollen.
When the young grubs are Matched
out, however, they discover the base
deception all too late and perish miser-
ably in their fallacious bed, the help
less victims of misplaced parental con-
lldence. Even as Zeuxis deceived the
very birds with his painted grapes, 50
Rafllesia deceives the flies themselves
by its ingenious mimicry of a putrid
bcefsteak. In the fierce competition Of
tropical life, it has found out by sim
pie experience that dishonesty is the
best policy.
On most mountain boys in Britain
one can still find a few pretty white
flowers of the rare and curious grass
Of Parnassus. They have each five
snowy petals, and at the base of every
petal stands a little forked organ, with
eight or nine thread-iike points, termi-
mated, apparently, by small round
drop of pellucid honey. Touch one Of
the drops with yorr finger, and 10. you
will find it is a solid ball Or gland
The flower, in fact, is only playing at
producing honey. Yet so easily are
the flies for whom it caters taken in by
a snowy advertisement, that not only
will they light on the blossoms and try
most industriously for a long time to-
gether to extract little honey from
the dry bulbs, but even after they have
been compelled to give up the attempt
as vain they will light again upon a
second flower, and gothrough the whole
performance, d0 capo. The grass of
Parnassus thus generally manages to
get its flowers fortified with no eX-
penditure of honey at all on its own
part. Still, it is not wholly and hope
lessly abandoned flower, like some
others, for it does really secrete a little
genuine honey quite away from the
sham drops, though to an extent en-
tirely incommensurate with the nre-
tended display.
Most of the flowers specially affected
by carrion flies have luril red color
and distinct smell of bad meat. Few
of them, however, are quite SO cruel in
their habits as Ralllesia. For the
most part, they attract the insects by
their appearance and odor, but reward
their services with little honey and
other allurements. This is the case
with the curious English ny-orchid,
whose dull purple lip is covered with
tiny drops of nectar, licked off by the
fertilizing flies. The very malodorous
carrion-howers Cor Stapelias) are visit
ed by bluebottles and ileshnies, while
an allied form actually sets trap for
the hy's probosciS, which catches the
insect by its hairs, and compcls him to
give sharp pull in order to free him
self; this pull dslodges the pollen, and
SO secures the desired cross fertil2a-
ton. The Alpine butterwort sets
somewhat similar trap 50 vigorously
that when a weak fly is caught in it he
cannot disengage himself, and there
perishes wretchedly, like hawk IN a
keepers COrnhW Maga:ine.