CHAPTEK IV. 



HOW PLANTS EAT. 



WE saw in the last chapter how and why plants 

 came to differ from one another, but not why 

 they came to be divided into well-marked groups 

 or kinds, such as primroses, daisies, cabbages, 

 oaks, and willows. In the world around us we 

 observe a great many different sorts of plants, 

 not all mixed up together, so to speak, nor 

 merging into one another by endless gradations, 

 but often clearly marked off by definite lines into 

 groups or families. Thus a primrose is quite 

 distinct from a crocus, and an oak from a maple. 

 For the present, however, I do not propose to go 

 into the question of how they came to be divided 

 into such natural groups. I will begin by telling 

 you briefly how plants eat and drink, marry and 

 rear families, and then will return later on to 

 this problem of the Origin of Species, as it is 

 called, and the pedigrees and relationships of the 

 leading plant families. 



First of all, then, we will inquire, How Plants 

 Eat. And in this inquiry I will neglect for the 

 most part the very early and simple plants we 

 have already spoken about, and will chiefly 

 deal with those more advanced and complicated 

 types, the flowering plants, with which every- 

 body is familiar. 



Plants Eat with their Leaves. The leaves are, 

 in fact, their mouths and stomachs. 



