New-York tribune., 1908-10-25
SUNDEW A CANNIBAL.

There are many predaceous and tgerish plants
OF which the sundew is a notable example IL
catches insects in a hairy trap and dgests them
with peusin the same as human beings and other
animals do The leaf jaws will grasp pebble. but
make no attempt digest it. and soon the jaws
open and let the pebble fall TO the ground The
American sundew can smell meat fresh or on the
hoof and go after it. When live insect is pinned
half an inch from it's mouth, the plant moves
toward it. and in two hours sezes its prey. Notion
less for hours. the hinged bristly leaves Of the
American fly trap come together with a snap or
the body of some luckless insect, and do not open
until several days, later, nothing but skeleton
remains.
In one plant If a single leaf jaw is unable to
manage the struggles of large insect, the other
leaves come te assist and grab the victims legs
which they retain as their equitable share Of the
banquet.
The caruivorous plants have no prejudice against
Chicago beef or Brooklyn boarding house chops.
AnSthing that meat looks good To them. If they
actually see with leaf eyes at least, 1t tastes good
Portugues, farmers use the hycatching droso-
phy;lum instead of mechanical fiytraps To clear
their houses of insects In the tropics the stencil
of deca wing insects proclams the presence of plants
with pitcher traps full OF prey A plant without
roots that-sas in -dttches and ponds seeking in
sects whom il, may devour is the Aldrovandi vesi-
culosa Unsuspecting water heas and shippers
touch the bristles OF its thick leaves once
and no more; they seized and consumed.
The dodder and the feshy looking hempde ath
nurderors plant parasites that search their
victims at a distance and suck their juices. The
hideous spongelike toothwort preys not only
plants but on insects, which 1t enticeS within laby-
rinthine dungeons in its underground stems
Beetles. spiders. plant lice and mites wander into
the scaly cells where they seized by octopus
arms and drained OF their life juices by greedy
feeers. When animal food is lacking. the catholic
appetite OF the toothwort is satisfied with sap
extracted from the roots of trees and plants.
The, sensitiveness of plants in many directions
far exceeds that of man The glands Of the sun
dew excited by the weight Of a thread amount
ing to LIS 40 OF grain. The billionth part of
millfgram of potassium salt be tasted by bac-
terra which belong to the vegetable kingdom. The
spores OF certain fungi, attracted by the leg of a
fly. will swim distance perhaps comparable in
mans with the distance between the Battery
and Coney Island teudrN will bend under a bit
of silk thread weighing only .O0025 Of a gram
Plants perceive differences OF light that cannot be
detected by the finest scientific Instruments. and
they affected by ultraviolet rays that are in
visible the human eye.
II is the cooperation between the plant parts
and the subordnation of individual inciinatons to
the general welfare that argue most strongly for
plant intelligence
A number OF vegetable sense organs have been
discovered by Professor Haberandt lie has found
that plants are endowed with nerves the
animals. and these nerves generally excited
by irritable hairs. which are like the whiskers
OF cat The sensitive tendrn spurs itself to
activity by rubbing its cells against a deposit OF
cfysIaii1ea acid; the irritation is produced when