“Now I don’t agree with this at all. And there are lots more of the newer school of naturalists who feel just as I do about it. Wherever there is life there is intelligence. Plants can be cunning and patient and cruel and deceitful. If they can’t get enough of one kind of food, they hunt for another. When men and animals do these things or show these qualities, we admit that it is the result of thought. What is it, then, that makes a plant do precisely similar things with similar ends in view?
“But there,” he interrupted himself with a smile, “one might almost think that I was in my lecture room, talking to a class! It’s a hobby of mine, and I forget sometimes that others may not be so interested in it as I am.”
“But we are interested, keenly interested,” protested Cora.
“I never thought of plants in that way before,” declared Bess.
“It’s opened up an entirely new way of looking at things,” said Paul.
“Are there many kinds of vampire plants?” asked Belle.
“Lots of them,” replied Mr. Morley. “And they use all kinds of devices—hooks, claws, poison, honey, snares and shocks.”
“Desperate characters,” whispered Walter to Jack.
“Worse than gunmen,” murmured Jack.
“There, for instance,” continued their host, “is the ‘devil’s snare’ that is found in South America. It has long, snaky tentacles that sweep the ground for many yards in every direction, for all the world like the long suckers of the devil-fish. It gobbles up anything that comes within its reach, insects, mice and larger animals. Once it gets its deadly grip on a victim, it keeps on tightening and tightening until it chokes the life out of it. It has been known to grasp and kill a good-sized dog.”