TRAPS AND LURES IN THE LIVING WORLD

Species by species, Rahn describes the mechanisms of various traps and lures with which the featured animals and plants catch prey. First comes a dry description, replete with terms like ""attachment disks"" and ""hackled band,"" of different kinds of spiders, different webs, and the silks used. Rahn describes the ant lion's pitfall (and explains in the process the term ""angle of repose""), but never tells us what an ant lion is. She does somewhat better with carnivorous plants and predacious fungi, establishing at the start that they don't actually eat animals but do trap prey and digest and absorb parts of them. Ingenious mechanisms abound, and that might suffice for some interested nature students. However, Rahn does nothing to lure indifferent readers, nor does she offer any thoughtful perspective on the subject, as would a Dorothy Hinshaw Patent.