No. G.J IloolvER^OAUNLS UUOIS IIAIUT^ U F PLANTS. oG5 



iii.'iy be I'liUv a varil loiiu'. aixl wliicli brin^- tlieiii to tlic i;TourKl. 

 In tin- older state (if tlic plant tlie pitchers arc iisiiallj mucli 

 longer, Jiarrowi/r, and less inflated, and arc trunipet-sliaped, or 

 even conical ; tln^ \vini:s al-o are narrower, less fringed, or almost 

 absent. The lid is larger and slants over the mouth, and only 

 the lower part of the pitcher is covered with secreting glands, 

 the ii})per part presenting a tissue analogous to the conducting 

 tissue of Sarracenia, but very different anatomically. The differ- 

 ence in structure of these two forms of pitcher, if considered in 

 reference to their different positions on the plant, forces tlie con- 

 clusion on the mind that the one form is intended for ground 

 uame, the other for winaed game. In all cases the mouth of the 

 pitcher is furnished with a thickened corrugated rim, which 

 serves three purposes : strengthens the mouth and keeps it dis- 

 tended ; it secretes honey (at least in all the species I have ex- 

 amined under cultivation, for I do not find that any other ob- 

 server has noticed the secretion of honey by Nepenthes), and it 

 is in various species developed into a funnel-shaped tube that 

 descends into the pitcher and prevents the escape of insects, or 

 into a row of incurved hooks that are in some cases strong- enough 

 to retain a small bird, should it, when in search of water or 

 insects, thrust its body beyond a certain length into the pitcher. 



In the interior of the pitcher of Nepenthes there are three 

 principal surfaces: an attractive, conductive, and a secretive sur- 

 face ; the detentlve surface of Sarracenia being represented by 

 the fluid secretion, which is here invariably present at all stages 

 of growth of the pitcher. 



The attractive surfaces of Nepenthes are two: those, namely, 

 of the rim of the pitcher, and of the under surftice of the lid, 

 which is provided in almost every species with honey secreting 

 glands, often in great abundance. These glands consist of spher- 

 ical masses of cells, each embedded in a cavity of the tissue of 

 the lid, and encircled by a guard-ring of glass-like cellular tissue. 

 As in Sarracenia, the lid and mouth of the pitcher are more 

 highly coloured than any other part, with the view of attracting 

 insects to their honey. It is a singular fact that the only species 

 known to me that wants these honey-glands on the lid is the jS\ 

 <t7n])}(Jhirl((, whose lid, unlike that of the other species, is thrown 

 back horizontally. The secretion of honey on a lid so placed 

 would tend to lure insects away from the pitcher instead of into 

 it. ■ 



