12 THE HUMAN SIDE OF PLANTS 
methods of securing their prey. Some actually set 
traps into which the unsuspecting traveller is lured; 
some so place their bait as to entice the prey grad- 
ually into their innermost dungeons, from which 
no live insect ever returns; some set their traps 
under water, for they like fish; others diabolically 
imitate the mother-fish’s mouth, so that the fright- 
ened little minnows, in time of danger, may rush 
into it for safety. 
One of the most remarkable of the insect-eat- 
ing plants, really marvellous in the humanness of 
its cunning, is Venus’s fly-trap, which has its home 
in the swamps of North Carolina. The leaf-stalks 
are divided into two parts; the lower part performs 
the work of a real leaf, while the upper part is 
engaged in trapping insects. This upper part— 
the leaf-trap—consists of two halves, edged with 
a long row of teeth and covered with a network of 
fine “nerves.” Like all expert trappers, the plant 
is so alert and sensitive that the slightest touch on 
one of the nerve-hairs causes the leaf to close in- 
stantly, like a mouse-trap; and when the leaf is 
closed it forms a trap from which no marauder 
can escape. 
The plant spreads its leaves out along the 
ground, each leaf tipped with a tempting bit of 
honey. The unsuspecting insect comes eagerly to 
