Food from the Soil 149 



living matter. The mistletoe and other similar plants 

 get this, as well as other food, from the living trees or 

 plants upon which they grow. And other plants, again, 

 sometimes turn the tables on the animal world, and 

 actually devour living insects. 



The plant called Venus' Fly-trap is one of these 

 insect-eaters, and a very curious plant it is. Its leaves 

 end in two lobes, on each of which are three delicate 

 hairs, so placed as to form a triangle, and in such a 

 position that it is almost impossible for any insect 

 alighting upon the leaf to help touching them. As 

 long as the leaf only is touched, no harm is done, but 

 if but the tip of one of these magic hairs be touched, 

 the leaf closes instantly updn the victim, and does not 

 re-open until it has sucked it dry ! The trap will close 

 equally upon a dead, dry fly, or any other substance 

 placed upon it, but it re-opens almost immediately, 

 when the plant, by some mysterious instinct, discovers 

 that the morsel is indigestible. 



A large blue -bottle will be seized at- once, and 

 squeezed so tight that escape is impossible. But a 

 meal of this sort seems to be Very satisfying, for in one 

 instance the leaf did not open again for twenty- four 

 days, and when it did, though the dry remains of the 

 fly were removed, no attempt to catch more was made 

 until several days later. There was a similar result in 

 the case of caterpillars, raw meat, and spiders. All 

 are digested by means of an acid which -the leaf pours 

 out upon them. 



It is a curious fact, that the dropping of water upon 

 the trap does not make it close, unless the sun is 

 shining, or has been shining immediately before, upon 

 it In this case, the plant, not being prepared for rain, 



