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Show - FLESH-EATERS AMONG PLANTS. Scientists Know of Many Murderous, Species. "Tho leaves of this plant woro curious," curi-ous," tho botanist said. "Each had o lot of long, conrso hairs on it, and n knob In tho centor covered with greon mucilage. "A beo lighted on one of tho hairs Then n strango thing happened. The neighboring hairs scorned to conlo tc life. Thoy reared up and pounced upon tho bee, they carried it over to the knob nnd thoy pressed It firmly Itc tho mucilage. Llfo then left them They were simple hnirs again. "Tho bee struggled helplessly, like fly stuck on fly-pnper. Tho leaf gradu ally folded round it, enveloping It nt last, as in an npplo dumpling tho pas try envelopes tho fruit. And a few hours later tho leaf oponed again, but no sign of tho boo remained. It had been dovoured. "This plant was the sundow, the flesh-entlng sundow, about which Ros cettl wroto his best poem. "There aro many flesh-eaters among plants. Tho bladdcrw ort, tho tooth-wort tooth-wort and tho butterwort attract insects in-sects and animalculao, nnd, Imprison ing them by means of hairs nnd ran cllngo, devour them at leisure. "In Borneo nnd South America It Is said that thero aro largo flesh-eating trees, powerful enough to capturo and digest foxes, gulls, children, oven men. But wo havo no scientific truth that such trees exist. They could exist, of course, but, till wo actually seo them, it is beat to regard tho stories about them as native twaddle." |