50 WEST AUSTRALIAN PITCHER-PLANT, 



their way down into the decomposing mass below, live there, and 

 finally make their way underground to pass the chrysalis stage. 

 Associated with the plant is a bird which slits up the pitchers in 

 search of the larv?e. 



In Borneo (10) a spider lines the upper part (the conductive or 

 slippery part) of Nejyenthes pitchers with a thin web, to give it 

 foot-hold, and there lies in wait for visitors. If disturbed the 

 spider dives into the liquid. We have a parallel case in New 

 South Wales in a bug which lives on Drosera binata, and feeds 

 on the insects captured by the sticky tentacles. 



At the same time that we observed the flies, we saw a frog, 

 alarmed by our movements, dive wildly into the nearest pitcher, 

 where he was able to hide his head and shoulders. 



Purposes of Structure. — It is rather a hazardous matter to 

 attempt to account for all the structures of the pitcher, but some 

 are such manifest adaptations that I may venture to point them 

 out. The glands on the outer surface certainly secrete a fluid, 

 and although I have not been able to detect any taste in it, yet 

 I think we are justified in concluding that it is attractive to 

 insects, as they certainly visit and lick the exterior of pitchers. 

 The colours have been supposed to attract as flowers do, but I 

 think this is unlikely, as green mature pitchers had just as large 

 a number of victims as the brightly coloured ones. Indeed, I 

 think the coloration, as in leaves, is a sign of the failure of the 

 vital powers of the pitchers. 



In Nepenthes^ Sarracenia and other genera, the wings have 

 been described as staircases leading to the little parlour, and in 

 confirmation of this, it is said that some species of Nepenthes 

 which, when young, have short-stalked pitchers resting on the 

 ground, have wings which act as footpaths to creeping 

 insects ; while in the mature plants which have the pitchers 

 pendent on the long tips of the laminae, and which depend on 

 flying insects, there are no wings. Probably the wings 

 in Cephalotus have some such function, but although I have 

 seen insects on the pitchers, I never saw one on the paths. 

 It may be that they are designed to overlap the edge of 



