Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 December 1874 — Piratical Plants. [ARTICLE]

Piratical Plants.

Ix a previous article on flesh-eating plants, says the Chicago Tribune, we have stated that Mr. Darwin, the eminent English naturalist, is about to publish i the results-of an extended series of obj servations on the Dianea J/uscipula t This is the most iutcrI esting of tlie several species of the vege- ; table kingdom that are in the habit of 1 I deriving a part of their sustenance from I the juices of insects. An Important point ; in the history of this plant remained un- ; j settled at the concinstonof Mr. Darwin’s j i experiments. It was with -regard to the ; j power of a single leaf to catch and di--1 gest more than one insect. The question i has been definitely answered by Mrs. ; Mary Treat, of Vineland, N. J., a care- ■ ful ami trustworthy observer. She has communicated the history of her experiments ’to the New York Tribune, from which we condense the following: In May last Mrs. Treat received thirty j fine specimens of the Dionaa from Wil- ■ inington, N. C.—the only known locality where the plants are found. She immediately placed them in separate pots,

numbering each, and regularly thereafter devoted a large portion of each day to experiments with them. We have already described the Dioncea, but will repeat that it grows to the height of from two to six iqches, with leaves springing directly from the root. Each leaf is crowned with an appendage resembling an old-fashioned steel-trap, and with the same kind of action. At the touch of an insect on its inner surface it closes with a quick spring, and almost invariably shuts upon a victim. W'hen it opens, nothing remains of tlie prisoner but a little bundle ot dry bones. It has been killed, macerated and consumed. Mrs. Treat reports from her observations that a considerable 'number of leaves captured three flies in succession, although most of them had not strength to digest the last one. Five of them opened in an apparently healthy state after digesting the third fly, but died soon after closing upon the fourth. The plants were not restricted in their diet, but fed indiscriminately upon flies, beetles, bugs, spiders and- millepeds. Prisoners Which Mrs. Treat liberated after two or three hours’ incarceration appeared uninjured, and, after a moment of dumb surprise, fled with the utmost alacrity. Insects left in the trap twenty four hours,, although often alive at the end of that time, never recoyered. Though cleansed carefully by Mrs. Treat of the slimy liquid enveloping them, they died in every instance. When the dad-dy-long-legs dropped into the trap, their protracted limbs, which could not be entirely taken in, woflld show signs of life for twenty-four or thirty-six hours. The leaves required on the average seven days to digest soft-bodied insects, and a longer time to digest beetles and other creatures in coats of armor. May 5 two leaves closed upon horse-flies; May 12 they finished their feast and reopened their traps. May 21 a strong leaf captured a homopterous insect ( Metapo■ deuß nmalus), about the size of a squashbug; June 5 the leaf opened again, and nothing was left of the bug but its shell. It will be seen that fourteen days were occupied in disposing of this insect. The shelly covering of the beetles resists the action of the fluid which the leaves pour out in order to dissolve them. The traps pretty nearly had their match in the rose-bug (Slacrodactylus subspinous), which would sometimes force its way out between their clasping teeth or spines. Then, again, it would crouch close on the bottom of the trap, in order to hide, according to his habit, and would be imprisoned effectually. Nine of these poor beetles Mrs. Treat helped the leaves to entomb, but only a single leaf was strong enough to digest its victim; the other eight died in the effort. The strongest plant in the collection caught forty insects between May and October, and digested most of them. The same set of leaves, however, did not do all jthis work. They were constantly dying and being renewed. At one time there were thirteen strong leaves on the plants and Oct. 22, at the time of writing, there were seven, three of which were closed upon flies. None of the plants were allowed to flower, as in this effort their vigor would have diminished. Mrs. Treat sat down one day and inserted the tip of her little finger in one of the traps, meaning to hold it there for five hours at least, and record observations. In less than fifteen minutes the pressure was considerable, and for more than an hour it continued to increase. In less than two hours she was obliged to give up the experiment on account of severe pain in the arm, although her position was perfectly comfortable. On removing her linger she discovered that the slimy secretion had begun to issue from the trap. Although this fluid was found copiously enveloping an insect after two or three days’ imprisonment, when the traps opened at the close of their meal there was never any present, it having been, no doubt, absorbed into the circulation.