NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 269 



Insectivorous Sarracenias. Mr. Thomas Meehan presented 

 some specimens of Sarracenia variolaris, sent by Dr. Mellichamp, 

 of South Carolina, through Col. J. D. Kurtz, illustrating obser- 

 vations on the supposed insectivorous character of this plant, 

 made by him, and read by Professor Asa Gray at the Hartford 

 meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of 

 Science. Mr. M. said that the fact that insects were caught and 

 drowned in the liquid secreted in these pitchers and were secured 

 on other parts of the so-called fly-catching plants, had long ago 

 been discovered. The novelty in the modern phase of the discus- 

 sion was that these plants had assumed or developed these trap- 

 like organs, in obedience to a sort of innate instinct, for the ex- 

 press purpose of catching insects and applying them to the 

 nutrition of the plant. In the case of these Sarracenias, Dr. 

 Mellichamp had discovered that a honeyed secretion exuded from 

 the rim of the pitcher and had formed a little stream down the 

 outside, for the purpose, as was assumed, of enticing insects on 

 to their destruction. This was shown on the specimens presented, 

 as were the remains of numerous insects in some of them. Mr. 

 M. remarked that this intentional adoption of means to an end 

 had received the assent of many leading men, but that good ob- 

 jections had been made by some, and the point he regarded as by 

 no means settled. That the insects caught were rapidly decom- 

 posed, was undoubted, but it was not so clear that the plant 

 derived any benefit from the decomposition. 



Prof. Cope stated that a report furnished to the Academy of 

 remarks made at its last meeting contained the following language : 

 " Dr. Le Conte then remarked that the observations of Mr. Cope, 

 with a single exception of the locality of fossils mentioned, which 

 was new, confirmed entirely the observations made by himself in 

 186Y,"etc. This statement implies that the geological description 

 of the region given by him (Prof. Cope) was not new, and the infe- 

 rence follows the language that Dr. Le Conte had previously deter- 

 mined the facts in the case. Prof. Cope stated, in order to correct 

 these inferences, that no published account of the geology of that 

 large portion of New Mexico was in existence prior to the appear- 

 ance of his own, and that Dr. Le Conte's observations were made 

 on a line whose nearest point of approach to the region described 

 Iry him is about eighty miles distant, and on the opposite side of 

 the valley of the Rio Grande. He thought that this brief state- 

 ment of the facts would correct any misapprehension on the part 

 of persons not familiar with the history of the western geological 

 surveys. 



