THE OAXADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 207 



ON THE INSECTS MORE PARTICULARLY ASSOCIATED 

 WITH SARRACENIA \\\RIOLARIS (Spotted Tnuiipei-Lcaf.y 



BY CHAS. V. RILEY, ST. I.OUIS, MO. 



The insect-catching powers of those curious plants, the Fly-traps 

 {Diona-a), the Sun-dews {Drosera) and the Trumpet-leaves {Sarracenia) 

 have always attracted the attention of the curious, but renewed interest 

 has been awakened in them by virtue of the interesting experiments and 

 •observations on their structure, habit and function, that have lately been 

 recorded, and especially by the summing up of these observations in some 

 charming papers by Prof. Asa Gray, which recently appeared in T/ie 

 Nation and T/ic Neic York Tribune, under the title of " Insectivorous 

 Plants."" 



Tlirough the courtesy of Dr. J. H. Mellichamp, of Bluffton, and of 

 H. \\. Ravenel, of Aiken, S. C, who have sent me abundant material, I 

 am able to submit the following notes of an entomological bearing, on 

 the Spotted Trumpet-leaf (Sarracenia variolaris), which must henceforth 

 ■rank with the plants of the other genera mentioned as a consummate 

 •insect catcher and devourer. 



The leaf of Sarracenia is, briefly, a trumpet-shaped tube, with an 

 arched lid, covering, more or less completely, the mouth. The inner 

 surface, from the mouth to about midway down the funnel, is covered 

 with a compact, decurved pubescence, which is perfectly smooth and 

 ^velvety to the touch, especial!}- as the linger passes downward. From 

 midway it is beset with retrorse bristles, which gradually increase in size 

 ,till within a short distance of the bottom, where they suddenly cease, and 

 the surface is smooth. There are also similar bristles under the lid. 

 Running up the front of the trumpet is a broad wing with a hardened or 

 ^ventral side border, parting at the top and extending around the rim. 

 Along this border, as Dr. Mellichamp discovered, but especially for a 

 short distance inside the mouth, and less conspicuously inside the lid, 

 there exude drops of a sweetened, viscid fluid, which, as the leaf matures, 

 is replaced by a white, papery, tasteless, or but slightly sweetened sedi- 

 ment or eftiorescence ; while at the smooth bottom of the pitcher is 

 -secreted a limpid fluid possessing toxic or inebriating qualities. 



* Read before the American Association for the Advancement of Science, at 

 rthe late meeting at Hartford. 



