PLANTS THAT KIDNAP 149 
lower part of the upper leaves form themselves 
together so as to make a small cistern. Fluid, 
supposedly water or dew, gathers in the cistern, and 
here numerous tiny insects find a watery grave. 
The poor creatures walk in, are unable to escape, 
and so, after vain attempts to get out, fall ex- 
hausted into the fatal tank. 
The teazel is not dependent upon insects for its 
food; but it is becoming more and more an insect- 
eater. No doubt, in the distant future it will 
depend entirely on a carnivorous diet. At present 
it does not digest its prey, but only absorbs, in the 
form of liquid, the products of the decayed bodies 
of its kidnapped victims. 
Not the least among the kidnappers are the Rho- 
dodendrons. Who would ever suspect them of such 
deeds? Yet it is true; and their wonderful clus- 
ters of rosy pink blossoms are carefully protected 
from crawling insects by the plant’s skillful method 
of spreading glue near the base of the flowers. 
This glue catches and holds all creeping intruders. 
But the Rhododendrons kidnap only in self-defence 
and must not, therefore, be placed among the 
criminal plants. The mountains in parts of Penn- 
sylvania, especially in the Alleghanies, are literally 
covered with Rhododendrons. Few flowers are 
more beautiful. One is silenced in their presence 
