)06 SARHACENIA. 



vance ? An observation communicated to me 

 two years ago, in the botanic garden at Liver- 

 pool, seems to unravel the mystery. An in- 

 sect of the Spkex or Ichneumon kind, as far 

 as I could learn from description, was seen 

 by one of the gardeners to drag several large 

 flies to the Sarracenia adunca, and, with 

 some difficulty forcing them under the lid or 

 cover of its leaf, to deposit them in the tu- 

 bular part, which was half filled with water, 

 All the leaves, on being examined, were 

 found crammed with dead or drowning flies. 

 The S. purpurea is usually observed to be 

 stored with putrefying insects, whose scent is 

 perceptible as we pass the plant in a garden ; 

 for the margin of its leaves is beset with in^ 

 verted hairs, which, like the wires of a mouse- 

 trap, render it very difficult for any unfor- 

 tunate fly i that lias fallen into the watery 

 tube, to crawl out again. Probably the air 

 evolved by these dead flies may be beneficial 

 to vegetation, and, as far as the plant is con- 

 cerned, its curious construction may be de- 

 signed to entrap them, while the water is 

 provided to tempt as well as to retain them. 

 The Sphex or Ichneumon, an insect of prey, 



