Madison times. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1884-1???, 1885-08-01

A Plant That Goes A-Flshing-An Enemy Of
ags 81 ths Fish Culturists.

Plant That Goes A-FIshing-An Enemy Of
Agst 4i' the Fish Culturists.
"Anything hewP Any twenty-pound
trout or continental fish strories in the
air?'' asked reporter of The Phita-
delphtd Times of fish culturist grown
rotund in the government employ.
Eyes, there is something new," re-
plied the fish man. "Come in and look
at these weeds"
The visitor took the seat indicated
at q table covered with dishes contain
ing variety of these plants, small
fishes, rnagnifying glasses, and other
material Incidental to to the fish Gull
turist's profession, and looking through
the glass handed him. saw what had
apparently been q mass of weeds be-
come clear and distinct and resolve
itself into delicate brush-like aquatic
plant, covered over at the juncture of
the various stems with . number of
bladder-like objects of a rich green
hue and seemingly made up of in
Vulnerable facets, so that they appear
ed like mimic vases of richly-colored
metals hammered into shape by some
fairy worker In metal.
Clipping one Of these little vessels
from its delicate stem the fish cultur-
ist placed it upon the slide of micro
scope, through which it appeared as
large as lima bean, and still more
beautiful. 1t now CLEANED with
pellucid light, owing as was evident,
to bubble of air in the Interior, that
moved about in its prison like an opal.
The cup was also seen to have a per-
feet lid, that opened in instead OF out.
and from the edge outward extended
several long, hair-like processes, that
gave the entire object the appearance
Of what specialist OF crabs would
call an cntromostracean crustacean
(patent applied tor.)
"Now, then," said the fish-man,
'you have taken in the chief points of
the object, and you see it Is q regular
pitcher, bowl, or jug-call it what you
will-that Is suspended on the plant
by delicate stem, and that il has a
spring cover. Now watch the cover
when I put this shot upon it."
The Times man again applied his eye
to the glass; the shot was placed upon
the delicate lid, quickly and mys-
teriously disappearing.
'Yes, it has gone in. In other
WORDS" continued the speaker, 'the
bladder is trap and catches every.
thing that pushes on the cover. By
this you can SEQ what harm my be
done," and, shifting the slide, the
speaker replaced it by one that con-
tanned another of the curious traps,
though larger and having in its mouth
or opening the body of young fish.
The tail of the little creature was
completely absorbed by the plant, and
the fish had long since given up the
struggle.
'Yes, it is a veritable vegetable fish
srman," said the specialist, "and one
Of the latest discovered enemies of the
fish culturist. 1t Is a common weed
enough, and known generally as the
bladderwort. 1t is very popular in
aquariums and fish runs. and there is
little doubt but that large numbers of
fishes are destroyed by them. The
thing was first noticed in England, and
that accidentally. and tho discoverer
Immediately went to work making
experiments. 1t was found that out of
twenty. five fishes, placed in the weed
one-hah of them were in the traps in
less than six hours, and Judging from
the way in which they were caught
some people think that the plants are
ss much animals as the fishes. Some
experiments made here have attracted
considerable attention. In one case
observed by myself one of the fishes
was caught by the tail; and another
bladder had seized it by the head, and
both plants were hard at work absorb
ing it," sl2l- is'H
EDO they eat the fishP" asked the
visitor. It'F ilts. -4tIJ ~. ~
EYES," was the reply. "The ami
NAL il, taken into the bladder as far as
1t will 60, and then some secretion is
exuded that seems to assist in digest
ing the fish. At any rate. the latter
beson0 sbsorbed in the plant and
evideatiy eOss 10 help sustain ID. which
is alsotrue of a large number of plsnts.
In Sumatra a flower has been discov-
cred that is twelve feet across and
weighs ten or fifteen pounds, the pet
ais being SO strong that a man can
Jump upon them without breaking
through, so to speak. Right in the
center of this flower there is a round,
basin-like structure that holds about a
quart of liquid or water, and into this
: thousands of insects and even small
animals are enticed and drowned and
absorbed by the plant; 10 other words,
the oval basin is the flowers mouth, or
one Off them. So with many of the
pitcher, plants. Ghey are all traps,
baited with peculiar odors that at
tract their prey. Thisdiscovery about
the bladderwort is an important one,
but whether it justifies us in taking any
steps toward its determination has not
yet been determined.
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