The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-06-18
THE rNsKCr-BEARINa PLANT.

II INsECT-BEARlNa PLANT.
monkey or a conversational parroti VIII you
warrant 1t not to biter
81 will" Mr.. Mcmillan said. Its dead. It's
. bug growing upon q plant"
Thereupon Capt. Chambers broke into dorisive
mirth and asked his friend II he, the Captain,
looked particularly simple.
'All right" retorted the superintendent
await till you SEQ 1t. Two been hearing about
this thing from the natives for some years, and
have always regarded It as q fairy tale, but
having found and picked tho plant myself I've
had to change my mind. l tell you this is the
most wonderful thing in the plant line that ever
grew"
He produced the plant, which was dead and
dried, for Capt. Chambers's examination. Tho
Captain said that he would be very glad to bring
II here and forward 1t to Washington. Thus 1t
became part Of his personal cargo. This Capt
Chamber told . SUN reporter in his cabin yes
terday.
"You will think it's a fake. too" he said; 80
I viii show you the thing and lot you judge for
yourself"
Undoing . small cardboard box packed with
bran. he carefully took out the exhibit. It ap-
peered to be Just what he had said. There was
o dead stem about six or seven inches long. with
o little branch, and q small bunch of roots. On
the end of tho main stem was q perfect insect
an inch long, body, legs, head. and eyes COM
plote. Plant and insect were Joined at the mid
die Of the insects head. In the manner shown In
tho picture. The brittle shell of the head had
not been pierced by the stem, and the insect
seemed to have been growing there as naturally
as . flower.
There you have it." said Capt. Chambers.
ats q plain combination Of plant life and In
sect life. All that I know about the thing 10
what Mr.. Mcmillan told me. He found 1t in the
woods at New Site, Tucacas, Venezuela, about
forty miles from Porto Cabello. The plant, he
says. is q Wild wood flower, growing to q height
Of O foot 1t bears from two to four flowers, OF q
e SIas 0 oG5er' b and = Il iit ihaP fs, %aoh AZ Iif tb sa9 a oSwl OF ss q
pands the insect. which r. the fruit Of the plant
begins to form. and with the falling Of the petals
from It's parent stem, and dies away; but first it
leaves a seed which falls to ths ground and PRO
somewhat bigger than a humble bee. with gauzy
wings and O bottle-blue body except near the
head. where there 10 a broad band OF pale yellow.
what becomes Of the insect after 1t flies away I
do not know; nor do ! know whether the strange
S Sn9sts,SBa ,S SSs G Sliv Ss Shfn fo fnnsa though 5s GE6w /
Xnumber of gentlemen saw the specimen yes
and Examined It with great care.
and extremely interesting from a scientific
point Of view. but l can say with assurance that
s snim SRPnfis s Fs nc S4%SIn %oPe than 4f vt re- lssalt ap %
chance or accident. An accident. ! should guess.
IN which the unfortunate Insect lost lie life; It
IN d=e!sE%ininS tts exact species and;
Confident conn t in aging SHt that this is the pupa Of !
species OF cicada, allied to our dogday harvest
ciceda comes up out Of the ground in the form in
which you see this specimen, q wingless grub
| atrucfiva and will eat nearly ANYTHING In the
line Of vegetation that It can reach. Presently
the shell splits up the back and the full.1edged
branch. he beats his long. whlrrine heat-tsttoo..
that aM L S S%sss Ss to an i inject PA irsFedy. 'PSS a4 lssus Il
emerges from the ground at the foot Q. a tree
Feeding. say She because the male locust in
his final form Is unprovided with an appetite.
Up she comes from tho gre ground und pos s,ss Of :
On its supple stem. The stem bends and swayi
under the weight as she climbs, but she keeps
Now comes the flowers revenge. From the
yoracious Invader knows It she Is bemired.
Struggle as she will she can get no foothold "a
pss nli swsy fT TSs h plan yis sWays n snS t nsS9bie h Snd sn,
her struggles; then becomes stu. Presently thu
petals drop away. and where the blue howel
bloomed, is disclosed the skeleton OF the de
"How do you account for the commonness OF
Captain.
years that would DO enough to set the legend
going among the ignorant natives. Hoyeyer
To- It in the main points. It may be thai
the locust climbs into the calir. which ther
shuts up on 4 and holds y captive. y
slowly eat along until the petals dropped
In the mean time splitting Its shell ant
fall to pieces and the winged creature ny out
and prestoi, the legend is born. For, myself
however. / believe that in every case the insec
will be found dead and glued to the plant by thu
exuding juice"
Another man. suggested the theory OF insect
eating plants, but those are different In con
struction from this plant, and their prey Is SINAI
tnaacta