1884-85-] Edinburgh Naturalists Field Club. 201 



may some day be brought to light." It was then little thought, 

 doubtless, that one such discovery would soon be made, and by a 

 member of this Club, I refer to the interesting fact, just made 

 known by Dr Macfarlane, that in the genus Nepenthes — the well- 

 known Pitcher-plant — not only is honey secreted by the inside of 

 the lid and the mouth of the pitcher, as we already knew, but the 

 outer surface of the pitcher, as well as that of the lid, also possesses 

 honey-glands. Further, the whole so-called ** leaf," or expanded 

 lamina, including the thong-like prolongation of the midrib to the 

 end of which the pitcher is attached, may be regarded as a complete 

 insect-lure, seeing it also is found to be studded with honey-secreting 

 glands, thus presenting to unwary insects a long but pleasant pas- 

 sage to the cavity of the pitcher below. The stem, too, was found to 

 possess glands for honey secretion — in some species to a greater 

 extent than in others. On the Curator of the Royal Botanic Garden 

 drawing Dr Macfarlane's attention to the viscid nature of the fluid 

 secreted by Nepenthes when flowering, it was found that this also 

 was a honey secretion, and glands were discovered to be present 

 on the upper epidermis of the sepals. Dr Macfarlane then made 

 a minute examination of the other three genera of pitchered in- 

 sectivorous plants at present in cultivation — viz., Sarracenia, Dar- 

 lingtonia, and Cephalotus — with the result that substantially the 

 same condition of things was found to subsist in them all. The 

 Pitcher-plants may thus be regarded as ingenious mechanisms for 

 first attracting insects, in order to receive their aid in fertilisation ; 

 and next, for the capture of these insects, and their subsequent 

 appropriation for purposes of nutrition. 



This discovery is the more noteworthy, seeing that Sir Joseph 

 Hooker has written an elaborate monograph of the genus Nepen- 

 thes ; and it might naturally have been concluded that, when such 

 an accurate and painstaking observer had wrought out the subject 

 by making it a special study, it would have been practically ex- 

 hausted. Only a year ago, however. Professor Dickson was the 

 first to notice the " attractive " glands in the rim of Nepenthes, 

 which he has named " marginal glands"; and this is now followed 

 by the discovery here noted. Dr Macfarlane intends shortly to 

 publish the results of his investigations ; but it seemed to be a 

 fitting thing to notice the matter here, though already pretty 

 widely known to a circle of scientific friends, and to congratulate 

 Dr Macfarlane on his important and interesting discovery.^ 



1 A resum4 of this subject appeared in 'Nature' for February 1885 ; and 

 it also formed the basis of two papers read by Dr Macfarlane before the 

 Royal Society of Edinburgh in June and July of the present year, and which 

 will be found in that Society's Transactions. 



