ANIMAL EATING PLANTS. 



1 



"What do you think, Grandpa," all the 

 children cried at once as they rushed into 

 that good gentleman's sitting room one 



'Weil," said Grandpa, taking off his 

 spectacles and leaning back in his chair, 

 with a smile, "I think a number of things. 

 What would you like me to think just 

 now?" 



"Oh," exclaimed Edith, somewhat em- 

 barrassed by this answer, "we've just 

 been to the Park and we've seen some 

 of the queerest things." 



"And what were some of the queer 

 things?" asked Grandpa. 



"Pitcher plants. We saw some pitcher 

 plants," they all exclaimed. 



"Pitcher plants? That is very inter- 

 esting. You must tell me all about them." 



"The old gardener was standing near 

 us and he called them side saddle plants, 

 and said they came from .New Jersey. 

 He said they grew in many other places, 

 too," said Jack. 



"Yes, and he explained everything 

 about them," said Harry. "He showed 

 us that the large rib in the middle of 

 the leaf was swollen, and that the edges 

 of the leaf come together to make a reg- 

 ular pitcher. The pitchers were half full 

 of water, with bugs and caterpillars and 

 all sorts of things floating in them. The 

 gardener told us to look at the outer 

 sides of the pitchers, and when we did, 

 we saw honey oozing out. He told us 

 that some kinds pour out honey all sum- 

 mer." 



"Did you ever see a pitcher plant. 

 Grandpa?" asked Edith. 



"Yes, many times. Nearly all large 

 hot houses have some. All that I have 

 seen had lids. Had these?" 



"Some of them had." 



"Did you notice the honey on the 

 lids?" 



"Yes," answered Jack, eagerly, "and 

 there was a little path on the outside of 

 the pitcher leading from the bottom to 

 the top, and there was honey all along 

 this path and around the pitcher's mouth 

 to attract insects. They fly to it, or creep 

 up the little path for it." 



"Did the gardener tell you to exam- 

 ine the inside, too?" asked Grandpa. 



"Oh, 3'es," answered Harry, "after the 

 insect has climbed to the top of the pitch- 

 er he steps down to the inside wall to a 

 part which is smooth and glassy, and is 

 made of tiny things which are wide above 

 and pointed below, so that they help the 

 innocent little creatures to go down, but 

 make it very hard, almost impossible for 

 them to come back. Just below this is an- 

 other smooth part, with, juice standing 

 out on it ; then below it is a part that is 

 covered with coarse hairs, pointing down- 

 ward. You see everything makes the 

 poor little things go down. They lose 

 their footing when they travel upon the 

 slippery parts, and then are caught by 

 the stiff bristly hairs, which keeps them 

 from going up. The juice that is oozing 

 out from the walls wets them, making 

 them stupid and sleepy, so they drop to 

 the bottom and die. In a few hours, the 

 juices in the bottom of the pitcher gradu- 

 ally eat them." 



"The gardener told us that he had 

 found caterpillars, crickets, bees, blue bot- 

 tles, slugs and all kinds of tiny creatures 

 in these pitchers." said Edith. "He said 

 he took seventy-five bugs and other 

 things from one, all at one time, and 

 thousands and thousands of ants are eat- 

 en by them." 



"Yes," remarked Grandpa, "they have 

 wonderful appetitics, something like 

 small boys," he added with a sly laugh. 



"This is the first time I ever heard of 

 plants eating animals," said Edith. "I 

 always knew that animals ate plants, but 

 I didn't know that the tables were ever 

 turned. Are there many plants of this 

 kind, Grandpa?" 



"There are a few others, but not many. 

 Next winter when we go South to visit 

 Aunt i\Iary, we can see a very interesting 

 one in Eastern North Carolina. It is 

 called the Venus fly-trap and is only 

 found in the sandv soil near Wilming- 

 ton." 



"Does it look like the pitcher plant?" 

 asked Harry. 



"Not at' all," was the answer. "It 

 spreads its leaves on the ground in a ro- 

 sette, and each little leaf ha? a l)road 

 stalk md is made up of two halves 

 standing almost at right angles with each 



120 



