328 DARWINIAN A. 



hard! j to find conceivable explanation upon any 

 other hypothesis. 



There remains one more mode in which plants of 

 the higher grade are known to prey upon animals ; 

 namely, by means of pitchers, urns, or tnbes, in which 

 insects and the like are drowned or confined, and either 

 macerated or digested. To this Mr. Darwin barely 

 alludes on the last page of the present volume. The 

 main facts known respecting the American pitcher- 

 plants have, as was natural, been ascertained in this 

 country ; and we gave an abstract, two years ago, of 

 our then incipient knowledge. Much has been learned 

 since, although all the observations have been of a des- 

 ultory character. If space permitted, an instructive 

 narrative might be drawn up, as well of the economy 

 of the Sarracenias as of how we came to know what 

 we do of it. But the very little we have room for will 

 be strictly supplementary to our former article. 



The pitchers of our familiar Northern Sarracenia y 

 which is likewise Southern, are open-mouthed ; and, 

 although they certainly secrete some liquid when 

 young, must derive most of the water they ordinarily 

 contain from rain. How insects are attracted is un- 

 known, but the water abounds with their drowned 

 bodies and decomposing remains. 



In the more southern S. flava, the long and trum- 

 pet-shaped pitchers evidently depend upon the liquid 

 which they themselves secrete, although at maturity, 

 when the hood becomes erect, rain may somewhat add 

 to it. This species, as we know, allures insects by a 

 peculiar sweet exudation within the orifice ; they fall 

 in and perish, though seldom by drowning, yet few 



