CHAP. VII.] INSECTS VND PLANTS. 5g 



Chapter VII. 

 INSECTS AND PLANTS. 



\ other animals sustain such intimate and complex relations to plants as insects do. 



'I''" re luxuriant and varie.l the flora, the more abundant and .li ompan; 



iin; insect 



Entomology 



INSECTS, in common will) ;ill oilier animals, derive their living 

 ultimatelj from plants, either by feeding directly on green [eaves, 

 living or dead wood, etc., or by devouring other animals which so 

 teed or which in their turn have derived their nourishment directlj 

 or indirectly from plant-eating organisms. But besides this more 

 obvious relationship between insects and plants, there are other 

 associations between the two groups which may lie considered 

 In!.- briefly; such are insectivorous plants, the fertilisation of 

 (lowers by insects, and symbiotic relations between plant- and 

 insects. 



Although most insects live at the ultimate expense of plant-, yel 

 on the contrary some plants capture insects, usually by means of a 

 sticky excretion, and actually digest them. An example commonly 

 found in the hills of Southern India is the little red sundew (Drosera) 

 which grows commonly in marshy places and whose gum-tipped 

 tentacles situated on the upper surface of the leavesglisten in the sun 

 and give the plant its appropriate popular name; examination of 

 these plants will usually reveal small Hies, ants and Ja-sids adhering 

 to the gummy tentacles which bend over and absorb their juices. In 

 die Plains also -mall insects are often found attached to the sticky 

 fruits of a Boerhavia common in sandy places and it is probable 

 that this sticky exudation also exercises digestive properties. The 

 well-known Pitcher-plant {Nepenthes) also attracts insects which 

 are drowned in the water contained in it and their soft parts dissol- 

 ved and digested. It is noteworthy, however, that the tables are 

 often turned and that even insect-eating plants are not exempt from 

 attack or use by insects ; one little caterpillar lives solely on sundew 



