They shouldn’t eat
Or do aught so degrading.”
MORE CRUEL TRAPS
The plants about which we read in the last chapter do not take any active part in capturing insects. They set their traps, and then keep quiet. But there are plants which lay hold of their poor victims, and crush the life out of them in a way that seems almost uncanny.
This leaf (Fig. [155]) belongs to a plant which lives in North Carolina. It is called Venus’s flytrap.
Fig. 155
You see that the upper, rounded part of the leaf is divided by a rib into two halves. From the edges of these rounded halves run out a number of long, sharp teeth; and three stout bristles stand out from the central part of each half. When an insect alights upon this horrible leaf, the two halves come suddenly together, and the teeth which fringe their edges are locked into one another like the fingers of clasped hands.
The poor body that is caught in this cruel trap is crushed to pieces. Certain cells in the leaf then send out an acid in which it is dissolved, and other cells swallow the solution.
After this performance the leaf remains closed for from one to three weeks. When finally it reopens, the insect’s body has disappeared, and the trap is set and ready for another victim.