Then there are several plants which are partly parasitic, but which you would never guess were anything but ordinary plants. For example, the little eyebright with its green leaves, which do most of the food-building, is yet partly parasitic. If you ~very~ carefully get out a whole plant with its complete roots (this is rather difficult to do, and you must not pull it hastily, or you will break the connections), you will find that there are tiny suckers on them which connect them with the roots of the plants which are growing near. So that the eyebright gets some of its food ready-made from the neighbouring plants. The meadow cow-wheat does the same thing, and so do the lousewort and several others; but they are not complete parasites, for they are green and do a lot of work for themselves, even though they are not quite self-supporting, and tap the supplies of other plants to some extent. Among flowering plants, parasites are not common. We see in plants like the eyebright and cow-wheat, which do a little thieving, that the results are not very serious, and they are little altered by their habit. In those which are entirely parasitic, however, like the dodder, the result is the loss of nearly all the organs of the plant except the flowers, which have to be kept in order to build seeds. CHAPTER XXI. PLANTS WHICH EAT INSECTS As a rule, plants are the sufferers and are eaten by animals, but there are cases known in which this state of things is reversed; the plants catch and devour the tinier animals and small insects such as flies. But, you may ask, how can they do that, for the insects move so quickly, and the plants are fastened by their roots to one spot. Just as a spider builds a web and then waits quietly beside it till the flies are caught, so the plants build traps which catch the unwary insects. There are not very many plants growing wild in England which do this, but there are one or two that you might be able to find. [Illustration: Fig. 110. Plant of Sundew, showing the round leaves covered with tentacles.]