i8 93 . NOTES AND COMMENTS. 85 



We had been inclined to flatter ourselves that we were fairly well 

 acquainted with the mammalian palaeontology of Europe, and that 

 there was not much hope of the discovery of any strikingly new types. 

 However true (or false) this may be in regard to the mammals of 

 Western Europe, it is quite certain that it will not hold good for those 

 of Eastern Europe, where, doubtless, a large field awaits the investi- 

 gator. That it is in this half of the Continent that American types 

 would naturally be expected to occur, is self-evident, if the view that 

 the migration from the one hemisphere to the other took place by way 

 of Behring Strait be correct. The occurrence in Central Asia of deer 

 closely allied to the Wapiti, and of an alligator whose nearest living ally 

 is to be found in the Mississippi, are both strong evidences in favour of 

 this view, which receives additional support from this new and most 

 interesting discovery. We trust that ere long upper molars of the 

 new fossil will be forthcoming, whereby its affinities may be more 

 thoroughly indicated. 



Plant Pitchers. 



The recently-issued number of the Annals of Botany (June) 

 contains two papers dealing with the pitchers of Dischidia rafflesiana, 

 a twining epiphyte of the family Asclepiadaceae, growing on trees in 

 the forests of the Malay Archipelago. Mr. Groon has studied the 

 live plants at Singapore, and also worked with spirit material in this 

 country. Dr. Scott and Miss Sargant, the authors of the second 

 paper, have had the advantage of living specimens now growing at 

 Kew, sent two years ago from Java by Dr. Treub. 



Study of the anatomical structure completely confirms Treub's 

 view that the pitcher is a modified leaf, the upper surface of which 

 grows more rapidly than the lower, so that the outer surface of the 

 pitcher represents the upper surface of the leaf, and the inner surface 

 of the pitcher the lower surface of the leaf. The mouth is small, with 

 deeply incurved lips, and directed sometimes upwards, sometimes 

 downwards. The stalk gives off roots which enter and ramify within 

 the cavity, which contains a quantity of earthy particles, small stones, 

 fragments of leaves, etc., and frequently water. Dead and decaying 

 insects were also found in small quantity, and often ants, the latter 

 sometimes abundantly. The first author thinks that the solids are 

 mainly brought by ants, a view with which Mr. H.N. Ridley agrees, 

 regarding them as the remains of ants' nests ; having observed also 

 that the earth in the pitchers resembles that at the foot of the host 

 tree. As regards the function of these structures, Delpino's view — that 

 the plant is carnivorous, the pitchers serving to catch insects, which 

 are drowned, and then help to nourish the plant — meets with no 

 support ; as Treub has already objected, the roots afford a most 

 convenient way of escape to any insects which might find their 

 way into the cavity. There is, indeed, no provision either 



