Francis E. Lloyd — 2 — Carnivorous Plants 



vanda among the Choripetalae and by Utricularia among the Sympetalae. 

 For this reason the arrangement (Table 2) which has been followed is 

 that which groups the plants according to the character of their trap- 

 ping mechanisms, named for their obvious analogs among human 

 devices. By 'active traps' is meant those which display special move- 

 ments necessary or contributory to the capture of prey. 



The above table mentions merely the form of the trap. There are, 

 however, other characters which contribute in some way to the effi- 

 ciency of action. These include methods of attracting the prey by 

 means of lures: the odor of violets in Sarracenia, of honey in Droso- 

 phyllum, of fungus in Pinguicula; the secretion of nectar by glands 

 either on the traps or on parts leading to them as in Nepenthes, etc. ; the 

 exhibition of attractive colors and of bright fenestrations in Sarracenia, 

 Darlingtonia, Cephalotus; of brilliant points of light reflected from 

 drops of mucilage in Pinguicula, Drosera, etc. ; the secretion of mucilage 

 in Drosera, etc., movements of various degrees of rapidity, as in Pin- 

 guicula, Dactylella, Drosera, Dionaea and Utricularia. There are also, 

 with few exceptions, means for digesting the prey when caught: en- 

 zymes and acids are excreted. When these, together with the captured 

 prey, are accumulated in some sort of a receptacle, something much 

 like the animal stomach results. Involved in all this there are special 

 structures: hairs, glands, specialized stomata {Cephalotus, Nepenthes), 

 waxy excretions (Nepenthes), emergencies (tentacles of Drosera). 



From the purely physiological point of view the carnivorous plants 

 are concerned in a somewhat special way in the acquisition of nutrient 

 substances containing protein, possibly vitamins and perhaps the salts 

 of potassium and phosphorus, and even others. In this way they re- 

 ceive some profit, though what they receive is no sine qua non, as it is 

 with many other plants. As Pfeffer pointed out, many fungi are 

 wholly carnivorous, as in the cases of Cordyceps, Empusa, etc. Among 

 the higher plants are some which get all their food materials indirectly 



