6 Plant Food!

Chapter 6 PLANT FOOD! Eek! squeaked Thudd. "Drewd inside meat-eating plant! Carnivorous plant! Called bladderwort! "Stuff inside bladderwort turn Drewd into goo! Then bladderwort absorb Drewd goo!" "Yowzers!" hollered Andrew, struggling to get himself out. His skin was beginning to itch and tingle. "I think it's starting to eat me!" Andrew felt something yanking his legs.

Judy was trying to drag him out. But the plant wasn't giving him up. She let go of Andrew's legs. Through the wall of the sack, Andrew could see Judy like a blurry shadow. She was pulling something from her hair. Suddenly the sack opened! Andrew pulled himself out. "What did you do?" asked Andrew. "Used one of my trusty hairpins," said Judy, pushing it back into her hair. "Let's get out of here!" They swam into a tangle of smooth water-lily stems. Andrew looked around. "Where's that fish?" he asked.

Judy pointed up. Andrew could see the silvery belly of the fish near the surface. It was eating eggs, the eggs of the yellow-legged frog. meep… "Fish called rainbow trout," said Thudd. "Lotsa years ago, these kindsa fish not live in this pond. "Few years ago, fisherman put baby trout in pond. Want big trout to catch later. But rainbow trout eat lotsa frog eggs." "Maybe that's a reason the yellow-legged frogs are disappearing from this pond and others, too," said Andrew. Judy nodded. "Fishermen stock the ponds with trout," she said. "But they don't realize that the trout will eat up the frog eggs." "We'll tell Uncle Al," said Andrew. All around them, strange, shadowy things were swimming, rushing, wriggling—and eating other things. A tube-shaped creature with long, stringy tentacles was clinging to the water-lily stem beside Andrew.

A tiny creature with fuzzy antennas and one eye in the middle of its head brushed one of the tentacles. In a flash, the tentacle wrapped around the little animal. The other tentacles joined in. Together, the tentacles stuffed the one-eyed creature into the hole in the middle of the tube- shaped creature. "Woofers!" said Andrew. meep… "Predator animal called hydra," said Thudd. "Relative of jellyfish. "When prey animal touch tentacle of hydra, hydra tentacle shoot out stingers. Stingers got hooks to trap prey. Stingers got poison to stun prey. Then tentacles drag prey into stomach to eat." Just as Andrew was thinking what to do next, a huge bug as long as a pinkie finger swam by. It dashed after a tadpole. Suddenly the front of the bug's face flipped forward! There was a pair of jaws at the end. The jaws caught the tadpole and drew it into its mouth. Then it jetted away. meep… "Dragonfly catch tadpole!" said Thudd.

Judy shook her head. "Dragonflies don't live underwater, dummy!" she said. meep… "Baby dragonfly," said Thudd. "Called nymph." "That's no baby," said Judy. meep… "Dragonfly nymph is baby," insisted Thudd. "Can't lay eggs. Can't make baby dragonflies. "Nymph live underwater for long time. Maybe seven years. "Nymph get big, big, big! Shed too-small exoskeleton. Called molting. Grow bigger exoskeleton. This happen lotsa times.

"Then nymph change into adult. Can lay eggs. Have babies. "Adult dragonfly live short time. Two months, maybe. Enough time to find mate, lay eggs." Judy shivered and huddled closer to the water- lily stem. "It's not safe on the surface and it's sure not safe down here," she said. "What on earth can we do?" Andrew looked into the murky water below. He could make out the blurry outlines of plants and rocks. "Let's go to the bottom of the pond," he said. "We can hide under a rock until Uncle Al comes to get us." "Cheese Louise!" said Judy. "Who knows what's down there. It could be worse!" Andrew spied a huge, ghostly-looking larva perched on a nearby water-lily stem. It was perfectly still. As Andrew looked more closely, he could see that it wasn't a live larva at all. It was just an empty shell.