30 WEST AUSTRALIAN PITCHER-PLANT, 



pitchers grow in winter and spring, and are fully formed and 

 functional in summer, when the insects which they capture are 

 most plentiful. They then probably die in autumn, and a fresh 

 crop begins to grow in winter again. This was the case with 

 plants which I have in cultivation, but a series of observations 

 on the plants in their native habitat is needed to settle this and 

 many other interesting points in their economy. 



The pitchers vary much in size, independently of their age. 

 Many of the mature pitchers were of small size. 



The ordinary leaves are ovate, the length a little more than the 

 breadth, narrowing into the petiole, which is about equal to the 

 blade in the length. The average measurements are: — Total length 

 5 cm., breadth 1-8 cm. They are rather thick, and of a tough 

 consistence when mature, and not grown in shade. The surface 

 is very glossy in young leaves, less so in those which are mature. 

 The margin is entire, and ornamented with a row of stiff hairs, 

 white when young, and brownish in old leaves. Hairs of the 

 same kind occur also on the wings and lids of the pitchers. 

 Their peculiar structure will be alluded to later. Among the 

 leaves we observed at Albany, my son discovered a very interest- 

 ing monstrous form (fig. 1), and among the leaves on my cultivated 

 plants several have appeared. These monstrosities are apparently 

 common, as Professor Dickson has described and figured a series 

 occurring in cultivated plants in the garden at Edinburgh 

 University (4). There are stomata on the lower surface of the 

 leaf, and small glands (to be described later) on both surfaces, 

 rather more in number on the under than the upper side. In 

 young leaves these pour forth quantities of some fluid which 

 gives the leaves the varnished gloss they have, but I could not 

 detect any sweet taste in the fluid. The stomata are of the 

 ordinary character (fig. 2). I have been inclined to think that 

 the small glands might be modified or altered stomata, but 

 against this view there is the fact that they are found on the 

 upper surface of the leaf, where there are no stomata. Glands 

 of the same description occur on the inner and outer surface of 

 both pitchers and lids, and are associated with stomata on the 



