The times., 1901-03-24
INSECT EATING PLANTS
The Venus FIy-Trap a Model of
the Curious Family.
sn Interesting Group in the ware
Collection at Harvard UniVcrsity-
Snares for Wary Flies Equal to
the Web of the Wise Spider,

| the Web of the Wise spider
| CAMBRIDGE, Mass, March 2S.-Ncariy
| everybody has read or heard Of the Venus
| I'ly-trap-the Dionaca muscipula of scien-
| tiflc botany-and of the extraordinary
| sensitiveness of its leaves, so delicately
| constructed that if fly or insect lights
| upon one, the leaf closes up itself and
SO imprisons the unhappy insect, killing
| and actually eating it, Tor that the insect
! really nourishes the plant has been
| shown by comparative study; deprived of
| its insect food il fails always TO attain its
| best development.
The Venus Fly-trap is only one out Of
a number of insectivorous plants,
| careful study of which has been made re
| Gently by DIR. Fowler, professor of bota-
| ny in Queens College, Ontario. and
which receive even more practical illus
| tration in one of the most interesting,
! from n popular point of view, of the
many cases of glass flowers in the Ware
! Collection of Harvard University in Cam
| bridge. This collection, the only one of
| its kind in the world, is. as is known to
most visitors to Cambridge, the work of
| the famous Blaschka family, father and
| son. 1t was begun at the suggestion Of
| DR. Goodale of the University. to whom
| it first occurred that the skill Of these
! remarkable artists could be applied as
! well to flowers as to the models Of marine
| invertebrates which they We're then, in
| 1886 making for the museums Of Europe,
| and secured to Harvard through the gen
| erosity Of Mrs. Elizabeth e. Ware and
Miss Mary /. Ware of Boston. The col
| lection growing with each sue .eedi1g
year is intended to represent the r,la-
tions of the various towering plants Of
| North America; and one-quarter of a
large case is now devoted to a typical
collection of insect .orous plants. The
specimens represent nearly all such
plants in the United States. and are mod
eled with a delicacy and truth to life
which is almost incredible to one who has
not seen them.
These insectivorous plants are inter
esting an Illustration of the scientific
fact thtat between the animal and ,ege-
table kingdoms there is really rore IN
common than is generally supposed their
insect food, although the fact vas for
long time unrecognized, is now known to
be a necessary part OF their life.
The bladderWOrt, for example, of which
a model is shown at Harvard, is familiar
to frequenters of ponds ard slow streams,
| from Newfoundland to Texas, and is now
known to Use the small bladderS, from
which it derives it's name, for another
purpose than that of floating i.self to
the surface Of the water in which II
inland Common bladderwort and the
Purple bladdeTwort-which last is gen
orally found near the coast and is recog-
uized by its solitary purple hoWer-are
also traps for insects, in principle not un-
like the common form of mouse e-trap.
Each bladder has an opening large
enough To admit the small Insects often
invisible TO the naked eye, tnat lnhaDlt
the same water. but the victim, Cnce en-
tered, finds it Impossible to return, slice
q small valve opening only inward end
IN rEF Ia
debars him from escape. The insect is
therefore in the position of the mouse
VINO has passed the entrance OF a mouse
trap. and finds on turning that the door
IS shut close behind him.
The principle upon which the bladder
wort catches its prey is only less interest
ing than the means by which the victim
is converted into food product to ITS
captor. The interior of the little bladder
ahsOrbs the decompoSed body of the in
sect much a human stomach absorbs
| food although the action is slower and
! the plant more nearly comparable 70
| tiny boa constructor slowly digeSting the
meal that he has gluttonously swallowed
| at-a gulp. To be exact, however, the
! digestion Of the plant is even slower than
| that of 4 serpent. and single fly viii
keep a Venus Fly-trap busy nearly
month at a time
1t is interesting to know also that in
| the case OF the Venus kly-trap, which
| unlike the bladderwort, secretes an acid
| fluid that aids the decomposition Of its
! victim, the leaf on opening is found TO
| have lost its treaCherOus scnsitiveness,
| this, however, soon returns; yet II the
! leaf had heen forced to close over some
! object that cannot nourish the plant such
| q particle Of earth placed on ii for
! the sake of experiment, it remains closed
/ no longer than twenty-four hours, and
| upon opening is still sensitive and i'm
| mediately ready for its delayed meal.
The Sarracenia purpurea, found often IN
/ the month Of June in peat bogs, from
! New England TO Minnesota, northeast
/ Iowa and southwark, east OF the Alleeha-
! nies, is known commonly as the Side Sad
! die flower, the Pitcher-plant, or the
Huntsmans cup. The latter names are
more descriptive Of its appearance, and
! it is difficult indeed To see any resomb-
! lance in its purple flower and pitcher
/ shaped green leaves to anything nearer Il
! side-saddle than the pillions OF our an
cestors. But whatever name il is called.
| ii is notable example of the carniVorOus
| plants and is represented by a striking
model in the Harvard collection. IT car
/ ries on its operations, however, on larg-
| er scale than most, deriving, like others
/ Of it's hungry family, portion Of its nour-
| ishment from the larger flying as well rs
/ creeping insects. The BlasChka model
/ shows a curious leaf stalk formation
! which furnishes the trap, often in natu-
/ raj specimens found hdlt fuIl OF water and
dead insects. The snare is more subtle
| than the bladderwort's in that the en-
! trance to the trap is larger the exit ap-
! parently unimpeded. and the plant Sc
/ cretes a sweet liquid which serves as a
| bait. The victim flies or crawls downward
| into a large tunnel. then turning finds ii
! impossible to escape, for the inner sur
! face which he has just traversed so easily
| is covered with minute hairs pointing
! downward, and either 10 walk or fly
| against them is impossible. The further
/ history Of the victim is similar 10 that of
| the smaller insect in the bladder prison
! Of the utTiculaTia; II is decomposed alb
| sorbed, and finally digeSued by the treach-
| erous Pitcher-plant.
The old-time practice Of catching birds
| with lined twigs was carried on even
| earlier by another of the plants modelled
! by the Blaschkas This is the Drosera
! found in peat-bogs from Labrador to
| Minnesota and southwark. II sets no
| such complicated trap as does the blad-
| derwOTt or the Pitcher plant but depends
| upon a clear glutinous fluid seCreted by
! its leaves and on an action IF these leaves
! somewhat similar 10 those OF The Venus
! Fly-trap. The secretion has obtained for
it the fanciful name of ''Sundrw. hut
the insect is unfortunate that attempts
any but visual Acquaintance: the glue
holds it as the lined tWig the bird and
the struggles of the captive set in opera
! ration a number Of tbTJus tentacles on
the leaves, that finally envei1u and di-
gest IT. To this plant, the common round
| leaved Sundew fDrUsera TOtundiioIia)
which is found also in the bogs near Lon
| don, Mr. Darwin devoted nearly LaIf of
| his book upon the insect catIrg plants,
and il is therefore inclul"d ith special
| appropriateness N such Il tYp.cIl ,,tioC
tion as that al Harvard.