CARNIVEROUS PLANTS.

Evening Star, Issue 3675, 2 December 1874, Page 3

CARNIVEROUS PLANTS.

Fresh discoveries by scientific men are still looked upon at first by a great portion of the inhabitants of this world with as much doubt as were Bacon’s by his contemporaries. Who is there that can make up his mind to believe that such things as “ Carnivorous Plants” exist, yet Dr Hooker in his address before the British Association states that the Diomna (Venus fly-trap), aud the Drosera (sundew), are well-known instances. He says that the entanglement of insects in their leaves, which has been long noticed, is no accidental circumstance, but that the plant actually kills, eats, aud digests them. An American botanist lias actqally fed a Diotut’a with small pieces of beef. ‘‘The leaf closed upon the morsels as if they were insects, and after a while they were found to be completely dissolved and absorbed, the leaf opening again with a dry surface, and ready for another meal, though with an appetite somewhat jaded. Moreover, the plant has no more control over its appetite than a human being. It was found thatoheese disagreed horribly with the leaves, turning them black, and finally killing them.” We must own that we are slightly sceptical of any extraordinary discovery that starts from America. It may be correct that these plants devour animal food ; if so, there is no reason to doubt that the “ man-eating plant ” exists, but it would bo as well not to try to transplant it from its native soil, or lives might bo .lost in the attempt. This “ man-eating plant ” is said to 'be a native ot Madagascar, and traps men and women as the Dionim does flies. We quote one of the least sensational paragraphs of this “strange story,” I of what the capuibal plant ac'com-

plishes, as described by a supposed eye-witness : of the great tree kept their upright position during ten days; then, when I came one morning, they were prone again—the tendrils stretched —and nothing but a white skull at the foot ot the tree. The indescribable rapidity and energy of its movements may be inferred from the iact that I saw a smaller seize, capture, and destroy an active little lemur ; which, dropping by accident upon it, while watching and grinning at me, in vain endeavored to escape from the fatal coils.” Human knowledge is said to be the parent of doubt; and human nature is prone to unbelief. We own that the discoveries are wonderful—too wonderful, we fear, for half the world to credit.