Omaha daily bee., 1915-03-25

BY GARRETT p. SERVISS.

Some persons. impressed by the appar.
ent resemblance between plants and ami
mails. are ready to believe that conscious
ness aud intelligence are not confined to
ono side Of the line. but are shared by all
things that have life. To sensitive
soul. owning such belief. It is morally
shocking act TO cut down a tree. or to
pluck a flower. Just as II Is to tread upon
a worm.
There is one class OF plants which APP
pears to afford striking evidence in favor
Of the view that intelligence is not con-
fined to animals. These are the in
sectivorous plants" which get their name
from their habit OF trapping and devour-
ing insects They are really carnivorous,
or flesh eating AS truly so as wolves
and tigers. wonderful example OF
plant, an orchid from Bornea viii form
one Of the exhibits at the horticultural
show in this city on March Il. and
photograph OF II is herewith presented.
The idea OF a plant feeding upon an
animal seems kind Of reversal OF ma
ture. and when q carnivorous plant is
actually seen i'm the act of catching and
swallowing it's strange prey SILVER OF
horror is felt by the onlooker. II appears
a peculiarly Ironstrous performance. I'M
canny and terrifying.
That animals should eat plants seems
to us all right. Science has taught us
that II is a necessary process. inasmuch
as plants alone have the power to turn
mineral matter into living protoplasm
They thereby become storehouses OF
nourishment for the animal world. which
could not exist IL It did not feed upon
them. But why should plants, under any
circumstances, eat animals?
partial answer has been found. IN
the opinion of some biologists. in the fact
! that the species OF plants which are car
nivorous usually, II not invariably live
| in places where heterogeneous matter is
very scarce or virtually absent. and that
the plants supply this lack to their nour-
ishment by Selling upon the insects which
visit them.
The apparatus by which these plants
satisfy their carnivorous appetites con-
sists of wonderful notifications Of leaves,
or parts of leaves, whose movements are
startlingly suggestive Of acts guided by
intelligent comprehension of what needs
to be done to accomplish the object in
view. Sometimes the apparatus resembles
a beautiful flower. fact which renders
its carnage so much the more repellant.
The most celebrated of the insectivorous
plants is Venus Fly-Trap." which has
a flower-like mouth, consisting OF two
hinged pieces, or petals, capable of clos
ing quickly together. like the jaws of a
mouse trap. Stiff bristles on the margins
OF the lips and sensitive hairs lining the
tube below aid materially in the catching
and swallowing of any unfortunate insect
which is lured to the trap. The sensitive
hairs are, indeed. simply triggers, the
touching of which instantaneousiy closes
the trap BY that time the insect has got
! far enough within to be beyond the chance
Of escape. Once in while. however.
the victim does escape. whereupon the
trap opens again The process OF diges-
tion is aided by a secretion of the plant
and when II is completed the trap opens
| and the indigestlble portions are cast out
In the plant called the 'sundew'' the
leaves that act as insect catchers are
covered with glandulous hairs which
seize upon the victim. while sticky gum
CLUES it fast until its digestible juices
have been absorbed, when the remains
are let go. The plants called bladder
worts," living in ponds, have a kind OF
bladder which acts like a miniature eel
trap in catching minute water creatures.
Carnivonous ''pitcher-plants" are very