CHAPTER XIII. 



"TURNING THE TABLES." 



The crimes of " robbery and murder," as illustrated 

 by plant-life in the preceding chapter, were entirely 

 confined to the vegetable kingdom. Nothing was 

 there said of the fact that many plants are so viru- 

 lently poisonous as to cause death to animals — that 

 peculiarity has been already considered as protect- 

 ive. Nor have the habits of such wonderful and 

 highly-elaborated pieces of vegetable mechanism as 

 the Venus' Fly-trap {Dioncea nmsciptda), the Sundews 

 {Proserce)^Vi\^ Pitcher-plants {Sarracenia, Nepenthes^ 

 Cephalotiis, etc.), or of our humbler Butterworts {Pin- 

 gtdcidce)^ been mentioned particularly as cunningly 

 devised machinery for insect-assassination. 



But it now remains for me to relate the strange 

 means by which certain kinds of plants have been 

 able " to turn the tables " on their ancient and 

 hereditary foes the insects. The latter serve the 

 plants many a good turn, it is true — as when they 

 are engaged in fertilising their flowers ; but this 



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