Masterpieces of Science 



pitcher plants of America. Observers in the 

 Cape of Good Hope have noted two plants Ror- 

 idula dentata and Biblys gigantea, which are 

 evidently following in the footsteps of the sun- 

 dews, and may be expected in the fulness of years 

 to be their equal partners in crime. But why 

 need we wander so far as South Africa to find 

 the germs of this strange rapacity when we can 

 see at home a full dozen species of catch-fly, 

 sedums, primulas, and geraniums pouring out 

 glutinous juices in which insects are entangled? 

 Let stress of hunger, long continued, force any 

 of these to turn its attention to the dietary thus 

 proffered, and how soon might not the plant 

 find in felony the sustenance refused to honest 

 toil? 



But after all the plants that have meat for 

 dinner are only a few. The greater part of the 

 vegetable kingdom draws its supplies from the 

 air and the soil. Those plants, and they are 

 many, that derive their chief nourishment from 

 the atmosphere have a decidedly thin diet. 

 Which of us would thrive on milk at the rate of 

 a pint to five hogsheads of water? Such is the 

 proportion in which air contains carbonic acid 

 gas, the main source of strength for many thou- 

 sands of trees, shrubs, and other plants. No 

 wonder that they array themselves in so broad an 

 expanse of leafage. An elm with a spread of 

 seventy feet is swaying in the summer breeze 

 at least five acres of foliage as its lungs and 

 stomach. Beyond the shade of elms and maples 

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