HOW IT DINES

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 131, 30 November 1936, Page 3

HOW IT DINES

FLESH-EATING FLOWER

How does that familiar-yellow-flower-ing water plant, the common, bladderwort, secure its juicy meals of real flesh? This, problem-.defied .even -the painstaking genius of Charles Darwin, •but now, thanks to-superspeed cinemiorography,', it, is/a mystery, no longer, says the "Scientific ; American." Imprisoning a specimen in an observation tank stocked with its. natural prey, Professor Lloyd, of McGill University, proceeded to "shoot" its: movements at the rate of/160'picture's a second. His film affords a'graphic illustration of Nature's ruthless efficiency. .. ■ Faster than,the'human, eye can perceive, 'the bladderwort snaps up-'its-prey, consisting of embryo tadpoles, mosquito larvae, water fleas, and tiny Crustacea; it takes.but a thirty-fifth of a second: to swallow each victim. Its submerged leaves are fitted with traps, the chief feature of; which ;s a watertight hatch. As the;hatch .opens inwards, an ingoing /rush of■; water is created; • upon - this* the.: victim is - carried to its doom. .■ Simultaneously, as rthe trap fills up, an array of bristles bolts, the hatch. ■ Then, \yhile the piant digests its meal, the water in the traps is slowly expelled; so preparing to bring in the next capture.;; . . ;.. .