Weekly Chillicothe crisis., 1885-06-25
A VEGETABLE FISHERMAN.
A Plant That Goes A.Fishlng-An Enemy Of
the Fish Culturlsts

"Anything new? Any twenty-pound
trout or continental fish strores in the
air?" asked u reporter of The HHa-
deiphia Times of fish cuturist grown
rotuud IN the government employ.
"Ycs, there is something new," re-
piled the fish man. Come in and look
at these weeds.
The visitor took the seat indicated
at q table covered with dishes contain
ing n variety OF these plants, small
fishes, magnifying glasses, and other
material incidental to TO tho fish cul-
turist's profession, and looking through
the glass handed him, saw what had
apparently been mass of weeds be-
come clear and distinct and resolve
itself into n delicate brush-liko aquatic
plant, covered over at the juncturc OF
the various stems with a number of
bladdcr-likc objects Of rich green
hue and seemingly made up of in
Vulnerable facets, SO that they appear
cd like mime vases of richly-cOl orcd
metals hammered into shape by some
fairy worker in metal.
Clipping one Of these little vessels
from its delicate stem the fish cultnr-
ist placed it upon the slide of micro
scope, through which it appeared rs
large as II lima bean, and still more
beautiful. 1t now cleaned with a
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 n per-
feet lid, that opened in instead OF out,
and from the edge outward extended
several long, hair-llke processes, that
gave the entire object the appearance
of what specialist OF crabs would
call an cntrOmostracCan crustaccan
(patent applied tor.)
"N0w, lhcn," said the iish-man,
"you 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 ii has Il
spring cover. Now watch the cover
when 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-
tcriously disappearing.
"Ics, 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 Seo 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 a 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 vcritable vegetable fish
erman, - said the specialist, land one
Of the latest discovered enemies OF the
fish culturist. 1t IS n common weed
enough, and known generally as the
bladdcrwOrt. 1t is very popular in
aquarums 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 the discOvcrcr
Immediately went to work making
experiments. 1t was found that out OF
twenty five fishes placed in tho weed
onc-half 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
as 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.
"Do they eat the li,h?' asked the
visitor.
Yes" was the reply. "Thc ami
nal is taken into the bladder as far as
il will 90, and then some secretion is
cxuded that seems to assist in digest
ing the fish. At any rate, the latter
becomes absorbed in the plant and
evidently goes to help sustain it, which
is also true Of Il large number of plants,
In Sumatra a Hover has been discOv-
cred that is twelve feet across and
weighs ten or fifteen pounds, the pet
ais being so strong that man can
Jump upon them without breaking
through, so to speak. Right in the
center of this flower there is n round,
basin-like structure that holds about a
quart of liquid or water, and into this
thousands of insects and even small
animals are enticcd and drowned and
absorbed by the plant; in other words,
the oval basin is the flowers mouth, or
one of them. So with many of the
pitcher plants. They are all traps,
baited with peculiar odors that at
tract their prey. This discovery about
the bladdcrwort is an important one,
but whether it iustilics us in taking any
steps toward its determination has moi
yet been determined.