THE CAXADIAX ENTOMOLOGIST. 213 



play any necessary or important role in the economy of Sarracenia. 

 Speaking of the Sarcophaga larva, Mr. Ravenel asks, " May lie not do 

 some service to Sarracenia as Proniiba does to Yucca?" And if so, may 

 not all this structure for the destruction of insects be primarily for his 

 benetit ? Can he be merely an intruder, sharing the store of provision 

 which the plant, by ingenious contrivance, has secured for itself, or is he a - 

 welcome inmate and profitable tenant ? Self-fertilization does not take 

 place in Sarracenia, and the possibility that the bristly flesh-fly aids in the 

 important act of pollination, lends interest to the facts. No one has 

 Avitnessed with greater pleasure than myself the impulse which Darwin 

 has of late years given to such inquiries ; but we should be cautious lest 

 the speculative spirit impair our judgments or ability to read the simple 

 lesson of the facts. My own conclusions summed up are : 



First : There is no reason to doubt, but every reason to believe, since 

 the observations of Dr. Mellichamp, that Sarracenia is a tnily insectivorous 

 plant, and that by its secretions and structure it is eminently fitted to 

 capture its prey. 



Second: That those insects most easily digested (if I may use the 

 term), and most useful to the plant, are principally ants and small flies, 

 which are lured to their graves by the honeyed path, and that most of the 

 larger insects, which are not attracted by sweets, get in by accident and 

 fall victims to the peculiar mechanical structure of the leaf. 



Third: That the only benefit to the plant is from the liquid manure 

 resulting from the putrescent captured insects. 



[Mr. Ravenel, in making a transverse section near the base of the 

 young leaf, noticed large tubular cells passing down through the petiole 

 into the root, and much of the liquid manure may possibly pass through 

 these into the root stalk.] 



Fourth : That Sarcophaga is a mere intruder, the larva sponging on 

 and sharing the food obtained by the plant, and the fly attracted thither 

 by the strong odor, as it is to all putrescent animal matter or to other 

 plants, like Stapelia variegata, which give forth a similar odor. There is 

 nothing to prove that it has anything to do with pollination, and the only 

 insect that Dr. Mellichamp has observed about the flowers with any 

 frequency, is a Cetonid beetle — the Euryomia nielancholica, which, with 

 other species of its genus, is commonly found on many different flowers. 



Fifth : That Xanthoptera has no other connection with the plant than 

 that of a destroyer, though its greatest injury is done after the leaf has 



