other. There are Httle spikes around ihe 

 edges and the upper surface has three 

 fine pointed hairs, arranged in a triangle 

 on each half. If an insect alights on the 

 leaf or touches one of the six hairs, the 

 hair bends, then, if it jostles this hair 

 a second time, the two leaf halves clap 

 together at once, holding the insect be- 

 tween them. If the little prisoner is too 

 small to be worth eating, it can creep cut 

 between the spikes or bristles along the 

 edge, but if it is large enough to make a 

 full meal, the two parts of the leaf clasp 

 it closer and closer, the bristles on the 

 edge interlace just as you interlace your 

 fingers when you clasp your hands and 

 there is no escape. As it is with the 

 pitcher plant, the more the insect strug- 

 gles, the worse it is, for it becomes more 

 entangled in the honey, in the pitcher 

 plant, while in the Venus fly-trap the 

 struggling makes the leaves close faster. 

 After this fly-trap has its prisoner se- 

 curely fastened, it allows it to lie for a 

 few hours, then sends out a juice which 

 slowly eats it, leaving nothing but the 

 shelly parts. There is still another plant 

 of this kind," Grandpa continued. 



"What is its name?" inquired Edith. 



"It is called sun-dew, because its 

 spoon-shaped leaves are covered and 

 fringed with hairs having tiny, clear- 

 looking drops Hke jelly on their tips. 

 When the sun is shining on these drops, 

 which are dotted all over the leaf, they 

 look like dew-drops. This sun-dew is 

 a fine thing for work, for it is so useful 

 that the people of Portugal call it the 

 fly-catcher, and hang it up in their cot- 

 tages to catch flies." 



"How does it catch them?" asked 

 Harry. 



"When a fly or a midge touches one 

 of the leaves," said Grandpa, "it becomes 

 entangled in the jelly. Then it strug- 

 gles to get away. This makes all the 

 hairs bend inward, so that the insect is 

 carried to the middle of the leaf and kept 

 there. A juice soaks into the body, kills 

 it, and then draws from it all the food it 

 needs." 



"I remember another plant which feeds 

 on animals," said Harry. "It is very 

 different from these we've been talking 

 about, though, for it is a fungus. Uncle 

 Will told me about it last year when we 



were abroad. In the spring, when the 

 salmon were going up the river, we used 

 to walk down to see them every morning, 

 and many of them behaved so strangely 

 that I asked Uncle Will what ailed them. 

 He said that they were in misery, and 

 that made them rush about and rub them- 

 selves against anything they could to re- 

 lieve their sufferings. He said they were 

 often affected in that way when they were 

 coming up the river, because floating 

 around in the water were spores from a 

 little plant, or fungus, called saprolegnia 

 and these fastened themselves to the fish 

 by little hairs they have on them. When 

 the hairs on the spores have taken a good 

 hold, little tubes grow out from the 

 spores, something like the wa;7 ^ ^^^^ 

 sprouts, you know, and they work their 

 way through the flesh and over the whole 

 body like a tiny vine. This bears more 

 spores, which blow away into, the water 

 and work around there until they find 

 something to which they can fasten them- 

 selves. You can see little patches of white 

 over the fish's gill covers at first, then in 

 a few weeks there are patches all over 

 the head. These are soft and flaky look- 

 ing and grow very fast when they are 

 well started. The fish have to fight so 

 hard to get up the river at all that they 

 become very weak, and the water is so 

 impure on account of there being so many 

 fish in it, that their blood becomes poor 

 and unhealthy. This is What the plant 

 wants to make it grow well. 



When almost half of the body 

 is covered, the fish dies, but its enemy 

 eats away until there is nothing more to 

 eat. 



"Yes, I have heard of that plant," said 

 Grandpa. "You have all seen dead flies 

 sticking to window panes, haven't you?" 



"Oh, yes," they all exclaimed. 



"These have almost always been killed 

 in the same way that the salmon, of 

 which Harry has just told us, were killed. 

 The plant which lives upon the flies is a 

 very near cousin of that which lives on 

 the salmon, and, if you look closely at 

 these dead flies, you can see the fungus, 

 which looks like a soft, white mist. But, 

 come, come, lunch has been ready for 

 some time and we must not keep Mamma 



waitmg. 



Elizabeth Roberts Burton. 



121 



