text: Mr. Dunstan, naturalist, who has recently returned from Central America, where he spent nearly two years in the study of the flora and the fauna of the country, relates the finding of a singular growth in one of the swamps which surround the great lakes of Nicaragua. He was engaged in hunting for botanical and entomological specimens, when he heard his dog cry out, as if in agony, from a distance. Running to the spot whence the animal's cries came. Mr. Dunstan found him enveloped in a perfect network of what seemed to be a fine rope-like tissue of roots and fibers...  The native servants who accompanied Mr. Dunstan manifested the greatest horror of the vine, which they call "the devil's snare", and were full of stories of its death-dealing powers. He was able to discover very little about the nature of the plant, owing to the difficulty of handling it, for its grasp can only be torn away with the loss of skin and even of flesh; but, as near as Mr. Dunstan could ascertain, its power of suction is contained in a number of infinitesimal mouths or little suckers, which, ordinarily closed, open for the reception of food. If the substance is animal, the blood is drawn off and the carcass or refuse then dropped.
  An investigation of Stead's review determined no such article was published in the October issue of Lucifer, and concluded that the story in Review of Reviews appeared to be a fabrication by the editor. The story in fact appeared in the September issue, preceded by a longer version in an 1889 newspaper describing Dunstan as a "well-known naturalist" from New Orleans.
  Literature and film
  "The Man-Eating Tree" (1881) by Phil Robinson (included in his book Under the Punkah) describes a "man-eating tree" found in Nubia.
  Indian writer Malladi Venkata Krishna Murthy's biological thriller Nattalostunnayi Jagratta features a man-eating tree in Madagascar.
  "The Flowering of the Strange Orchid" (1894) by H. G. Wells (originally published in Pall Mall Budget, August 2 and 9, 1894), about an orchid capable of sedating and draining the blood of a human.
  "The Purple Terror" (1899) by Fred M. White features parasitic vines with purple blossoms known as the "Devil's Poppy" that seize and poison animals.