INSECTIVOROUS PLANTS 



79 



Insectivorous Plants. 



Through the courtes}- of the "[Mis- 

 souri Botanical Garden Bulletin," we 

 present herewith a cut of a group of 

 plants that eat insects. We all know that 

 some insects eat plants, but it is not gen- 

 erally known that many plants have de- 

 vices for catching, killing and literally 

 eating insects. It has been ascertained 

 by experiment that the majority of such 

 plants use the captured animals as food. 



Some of these contain chambers into 

 which small animals may enter but from 

 which they cannot escape. Such plants 

 exhibit no movement of anv kind. An- 



other class uses actual movement in 

 catching their prey, which is subsequent- 

 ly digested and absorbed. For two or 

 three years specimens of the \'enus's 

 fly-trap were kept growing in ArcAdiA 

 under close observation. In some in- 

 stances flies that were caught had evi- 

 dently been recently entrapped for they 

 were active in their efi:'orts to escape, but 

 no one had the good luck to see the 

 plant actually catch the fly. We should 

 be glad if our naturalists will make ob- 

 servations and report on any form of in- 

 sectivorous plants that may grow in their 

 vicinity. 



A CROUP OF INSECTIVOROUS PLANTS. 

 Drosera. Sarrarevia. 



Pinguicula. 



Dionaea. 



