Strolling through Lowe's on Saturday, I unexpectedly stumbled upon–again–strange doors to certain death.
I don't recall ever seeing carnivorous plants on display in a store before, but the bright, attractive terrariums contained three varieties: cobra lilies, sundews and Venus flytraps. Though I never embraced biology in high school, these peculiar specimens of the plant kingdom always stirred my interest.
I recall that my dad, a former biology teacher, once found sundews growing near the Ouachita River west of Crossett. Then when I was in college, I came across a patch of sundews myself along the power line which crosses Water Well Road on the east side of town.
When Daddy reported sundews along the banks of the Illinois Bayou a couple of decades later, Barrett and I set out on an expedition to hunt for them ourselves. Finding some, we transplanted a few to our backyard to observe their behavior.
The sundew's leaves bristle with thin tentacles covered with a sticky fluid. When an insect lands on these tentacles, it sticks fast, soon to have its body broken down by the digestive enzymes the sundew releases. While sundew tentacles often slowly fold over their prey, they are considered "passive fly-paper traps."
Though the droplets of fluid on the tentacles resemble dew glistening in the sun (hence its name), the plant's beauty disguises a portal to death.
Summers when Barrett and I attended Bible Memory Association Camp near Ringgold, Louisiana, I was always surprised by the large number of ant-lion dens in the foot-trodden soil. The ant-lion is so named because its larva is a voracious predator of ants and other insects.
Ant-lions make circular, funnel-like pits, usually 1-1/2 to 2 inches in diameter and about the same depth, in sandy soil. The ant-lion waits beneath the sand at the bottom for an ant or other insect to slip and slide down the pit's sloping sides. And when that happens, a pair of ferocious mandibles quickly appear from nowhere–and the ant-lion enjoys its next meal.
In the process of making their pits, ant-lion larvae, also known as doodlebugs, create curious-looking, spiral-shaped "doodles" in the sand that give the impression to human observers of having been made by a wandering bug that has simply lost its way.
Also at BMA Camp dwelt an animal seldom seen: the trapdoor spider. Trapdoor spiders dig tunnels in the ground and seal them with hinged lids that blend with their surroundings. The spider patiently waits behind its secret door until it senses prey passing nearby. Then without warning, it instantly flings open the door, springs upon its unsuspecting victim and drags it into the tunnel of death to devour.
Beauty, curiosity and secrecy:
Cryptic doorways are these three.
For when their purpose they belie,
Try a door and surely die.
Copyright 2004 James McAlister
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