328 STUDIES IN LIFE AND SENSE. 



eschewing the parasitic habit, the insect-eating plants have, never- 

 theless, certainly attained their present phases of existence through 

 graduated stages, and through modifications of habit, of which clues 

 and traces yet remain in the variations they exhibit before our eyes 

 to-day, JTnus there are several plants which probably represent the 

 .beginnings of the habit of feeding on other beings animals or 

 plants and which live upon the matter arising from the decay of 

 other plants. A peculiar orchid, the Neottia^ or " bird's-nest " orchid, 

 illustrates this peculiarity, the origin of which is traceable on the face 

 of the habit itself. Mere growth amidst vegetable decay would suffice 

 to account for its beginnings ; and the absorption of such decaying 

 matter might readily be conceived to become fixed as a habit of 

 the species from the mere prevalence of the surroundings in question, 

 and from the adaptability of the plant to avail itself of such food. 



A step in advance brings us to the case of higher plants 

 which feed on animal matter in a state of decay a habit widely 

 prevalent, as already noted, amongst the fungi at large. No better 

 example of this condition can be found than the Utricularias, or 

 bladderworts, which, as 'a rule, inhabit foul ditches, amidst the decay 

 and putrefaction of which these plants flourish and grow. Here the 

 acquirement of such a habit is again easy of determination. It is 

 no unusual occurrence for insects and other varieties of animal life 

 to come to grief in the neighbourhood of water, nor is it an unlikely 

 circumstance that aquatic plants should present a convenient mor- 

 tuary for such victims. The bladderworts of to-day, it is true, capture 

 their insects or waterfleas, and even small fishes, on which they sub- 

 sist, by means of the "bladders" borne on the plants, and from which 

 they derive their familiar name. A peculiar valve closes the entrance 

 to the bladder and opens inwards. Hence, on the principle of the eel- 

 trap, or rat-trap, entrance to the bladder is easy, but escape impossible. 

 The victims which enter the fatal cavern are confined therein ; but it is 

 only when death has ensued, and when their bodies have undergone 

 the putrefactive process, that the absorptive powers of the plant come 

 into play. It is necessary to insist on the recognition of this latter 

 fact namely, that the bladderv/ort lives upon the fruits of decay, and 

 not upon fresh meat, so to speak; because this feature reveals the 

 development and existence of a special habit in these plants, and one 

 which goes to support the idea that the ways of plant-life are as 

 remarkable for the adoption of favourable conditions as is the 

 animal constitution. Mr. Darwin, speaking of his expectation that the 

 bladders of Utricularia digested their prey, remarks that " to test 

 their power of digestion, minute fragments of roast meat, three small 

 cubes of albumen, and three of cartilage, were pushed through the 

 orifice into the bladders of vigorous plants. They were left from 

 one day to three days and a half within, and the bladders were then 



