St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1885-08-15
A VEGETABLE FISHERMAN.

A VEGETABLE FISHERMAN.
Plant That Goes A-Fishing-An Enemy
Of the Fish Culturists.
Anything new? ANY twenty-pouna
trout or continental fish stories in the
air?" asked . reporter of fish cnlturist
grown rotund in the Government en-
ploy.
Yes. there ID something new" re-
piled the fish man. 'Come in and look
at these weeds"
The visitor took the seat indicated al
a table covered with dishes containing
a variety of plants. small fishes. mag
nifying glasses, and other material in
cidental to the fish culturist's profession.
and looking through the glass handed
him, saw what had apparently been a
mass of weeds become clear and distinct
and resolve itself into delicate brush
like aquatic plant, covered over at the
juncture of the various stems with 4
number of bladder-like objects of rich
green hue and seemingly made up of
innumerable facets. SO that they ap-
peared like mimic vases of richly col
ored metals hammered into shape by
some fairy worker in metal.
Clipping one of these little vessels
from its delicate stem the fish cultur.st
placed it upon the Side of microscope,
through which it appeared as large as a
lima bean. and still more beautiful. 1t
now cleaned with q pellucid light.
owing. as was evident, to n bubble of
air in the interior. that moved about in
its prison like an opal. The cup was
also seen to have a perfect 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 a special
list of crabs would call an entromostra.
cean crustacean (patent applied for).
''Now. them" said the fish man, ''yol
have taken in the chief points of the
object. and you see it is a regular
pitcher. bowl, or jug-call it what you
will-that is suspended on the plant by
a delicate stem. and that it has spring
cover. Now watch the cover when l
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 mysteri-
ously disappearing.
"Yes. it has gone in. In other
words" continued the speaker. 1.-The
bladder is a trap and catches everything
that pushes on the cover. BY this YOU
can see what harm may be DONE" and,
shifting the slide, the speaker replaced
it by one that contained another of the
curious traps, though larger and having
in its mouth or opening the body of
young fish. The tail of the little crea-
ture was completely absorbed by the
plant. and the fish had long since given
up the struggle.
Eyes. it is veritable vegetable fish
erman," said the specialist" and one OF
the latest discovered enemies of the fish
culturist. 1t is common weed enough,
and known generally as the bladder
wort. 1t is very popular in aquarilms
and fish runs. and there is little doubt
but that large numbers of fishes are de-
by them. The thing was
first noticed in England. aud that
and the discoverer inn
went to work making
1t was fouad that out of
twenty-five fishes placed in the weed
of them were i'm the traps in
less than six hours, and Judging from
the way in which they were caught.
some people think that the plants are
as much animals as the fishes. Some ex-
periments made here have attracted
considerable attention. In one case
observed by myself one of the fishes
was caught by the tail and another
had seized it by the head. and
both plants We're hard at work absorb
ing it,
"Do they eat the fish, asked the
visitor.
"Yes. was the reply. The animal
IS taken into the bladder as far as it
will go. and then some secretion is ex-
lded that seems to assist its digest
ing the fish. At any rate. the latter be-
comes absorbed in the plant and evil
iently goes to help sustain it, which is
llso true of large number Of plants.
In Sumatra flower has been discov-
,red that is ten feet across and weighs
en or fifteen pounds, the petals being |
20 strong that man can Jump upon |
hem without breaking through. so to |
peak. Right in the center of this flower
here is a round, basin-like structure |
hat holds about quart of liquid or
water. and into this thousands of in
ects and even small animals are en-
iced and drowned and absorbed by the
liant; in other words. the oval basin is
he flowers mouth. or one of them.
20 with many of the pitcher plants.
hey are all traps. baited with peculiar
doris that attract their prey. This dis
overy about the bladderwort is an iEl-
ortant one, but whether it justifies us
4 taking any steps toward its extermi-
alton has not yet been determined
Philadelphia Times.