185 



Linnaeus (Sp. PI. 2d. cd. 728. 1763) adopted the name S(7r- 

 racoiia given by Tournefort (Inst. 1:657. 1 700) in honor of Dr. 

 Sarracin, a physician of Quebec, who sent to France the specimen 

 described by him. 



The use of the pitchers to the plant has been variously ex- 

 plained. Catesby (Nat. Hist. Car. 2:70. 1754) described them 

 as asylums providentially provided for insects, so that they might 

 escape from the frogs which pursue them, but most writers have 

 thought that the advantage was on the side of the plant rather 

 than that of the insect. Linnaeus (Sys. Veg. 49 1 . 1 784) described 

 the evolution of the pitchered leaf and its value to the plant thus : 

 " Sic metamorphosis folii Nymphaeae in folium Sarraceniae, ut 

 ipsa aquam pluvialem excipiens et retinens extra aquas crescat; 

 mira naturae providentia ! " 



Wheeler (Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. 22:415. 1906) records 

 the use of pitchers of Safracem'a as nesting places for two species 

 of ants {^DolicJioderiis Mariae and Tapinonia sessile), which had not 

 apparently suffered from their surroundings. In the same article 

 he speaks of finding nests of a bog-loving species [Cremogaster 

 lineolata pilosd) in old pitchers, the proximity of which to the 

 functional, water-containing pitchers had caused many of the 

 workers to drown in their ascidia. Certain carrion flies are re- 

 ported to lay their eggs in the debris in the bottom of the pitchers, 

 and the larva of one kind of mosquito is said to develop in them, 

 living in them through the winter. 



The color of the old pitchers is usually a dark purplish red, 

 but the young pitchers are light green with a network of red 

 veins if they grow in the open, while shade makes them develop 

 a uniform deep green. This is illustrated in the swamps along 

 the railroad near Lakewood, N. J., where the red of the pitchers 

 in the clearing contrasts with the green of those growing under 

 the cedars {Junipenis virginiana). Gies (Jour. N. Y. Bot. Gar- 

 den 4:37. 1903) states that the dilute neutral extract of the 

 leaves of 5. ptirpiirea is practically colorless, an acid extract is 

 crimson, and an alkaline solution, green. He has given the name 

 alkaverdin to the pigment because of the beautiful green color 

 produced by the addition of an alkali. It has a superficial re- 



