168 
PLANT STUDIES 
(3) Dioncea. This is one of the most famous and re- 
markable of fly-catching plants (see Fig. 157). It is found 
only in swamps near Wilmington, Xorth Carolina. The 
leaf blade is constructed like a steel trap, the two halves 
snapping together, and the marginal bristles interlocking 
like the teeth of a trap (see Fig. 158). A few sensitive 
hairs, like feelers, are 
developed on the leaf 
surface, and when one 
of these is touched by 
a small flying or hover- 
ing insect, the trap 
snaps shut and the in- 
sect is caught. Only 
after digestion does the 
trap open again. 
There are certain 
green plants, not called 
carnivorous plants, 
which show the same 
general habit of sup- 
plementing their food 
supply, and so reduc- 
ing the necessity of 
food manufacture. FIG. 158. Three leaves of Dioncea, showing 
The mistletoe is a the details of the tra P in the leaves to right 
and left, and the central trap in the act of 
green plant, growing capturing an insect. 
upon certain trees, from 
which it obtains some food, supplementing that which it 
is able to manufacture. 
In rich soil, the organized products of the decaying 
bodies of plants and animals are often absorbed by ordinary 
green plants, and so a certain amount of ready-made food 
is obtained. 
