Dogbane and Milkweed 303 
The insect slaughter which they carry on has 
the same excuse as the animal slaughter of the 
abattoir. It is killing for food, and the insects 
which these plants catch are honestly eaten and 
digested. But in the infinite analogy of the vege- 
table world we find what seems a curious parallel 
to killing for sport. There are a few native flowers 
which entrap insects simply and solely, it appears, 
for the deed’s own sake. The prisoners serve no 
apparent use in the plant’s economy, nor do their 
poor little corpses nourish the plant’s life. A 
botanist who let his imagination run away with 
him might accuse the guileless-looking flowers of 
that savage joy in another creature’s pain which 
drew our forefathers in crowds to the badger-draw- 
ings and bear-baitings of bygone times. 
One of these flower tormentors is the spreading 
dogbane (Apocynum androsemifolium) (Fig. 84), 
which is common all summer, along shady road- 
sides and around the borders of thickets, in the 
Northern and Eastern states. The plant is about 
three feet high, erect and branching. The flowers 
are nearly as large as single blossoms of the lily 
of the valley, and when closely examined are seen 
to be very beautiful. 
The corolla is bell-shaped, and cleft at the edge 
