88 JOURNAL OF THE 



accident. Therefore the web of the one, and the pitfall of the other are not 

 designed to catch insects ! Nor is it in point to refer to other plants of entirely 

 different structure and habit which sometimes entangle and imprison insects. 

 As well might we reason against a spider's web, because of a fly drowned in a 

 honey pot ; or against a steel trap because some poor animal has lost its life in 

 a cider barrel." 



The extent of the distribution of the Dionaea has interested many botanists, 

 and we append some observations on that subject. Although drainage of the 

 savanna land near Wilmington, and frequent accidental fires and fires purposely 

 employed to clear off the savannas to secure grazing for catile, after the waste- 

 ful method handed down by the aborigines, have lessened the numbers of the 

 plant immediately about the town, still some good specimens are occasionally 

 found within the unsettled limits. The distribution of Dionaa is co-extensive 

 with the savanna land, which, it will be safe to say, is as much as one-fifth of 

 the area of this county (New Hanover,) and the adjacent one's of Pender and 

 Urunswick counties. The ravages of fire, and unusual cold seasons and the 

 rapacity of the collectors who supply the trade, have scarcely made perceptible 

 inroads on the plant. 



The future of the Dion?ea does not incline us to believe that it will be soon 

 exterminated. Land is very abundant, and but few savannas have more than 

 a superficial coating of organic matter overlaying a bed of almost sterile sand, 

 therefore the temptation to cultivate such land will be small, even after the 

 country is thickly settled. It will be a great many years before the population of 

 farmers will become dense enough to regard savanna land as worth much, even 

 for the grazing of stunted cattle, and as the very sensible plan of caring for 

 cattle (and the better breeds are being rapidly introduced) upon the economic 

 basis of good shelter, pure water, and wholesome food becomes an established 

 fact, there will be no temptation to do as wasteful a thing as to burn off a 

 savanna and risk a forest of good trees, to keep a few stunted cattle from 

 starving. The Dioncea is undoubtedly the most remarkable of the very local 

 plants known to botanists, and it will be good news to the friends of science to 

 know its probable future. 



Drosera flliforiiiis, Raf. (Thread-leaved Sundew.) 



April. Flowers bright purple. 



lougifolia, L. (Long-leaved Sundew.) 



May and June. Flowers white. 



rotundifolia, L. (Round-leaved Sundew.) 



May and June. Flowers white. 



l)revifoliaj L. (Short-leaved Sundew.) March. Flowers white: 

 PARNASSIACE^, 



Pariiassia Caroliniana, Miclix. (Grass of Parnassus.) 



October and November. Corolla white with impressed greenish 

 veins. 



HYPERICACE.^. (ST. JOHN'S WORT FAMILY.) 



Aseypniii Crux-Andrea», L. (St. Peter's Wort.) 



June — September. Flowers yellow. 



Stans, Michx, July— September. Flowers yellow. 



