r>5(j 'ritE dA>JAI>lA\ NATURALsi.ST. [A^*!. vii. 



liio j;Ui|iiir^e; aud Lhiidiy. jibHdl) tlic solution of* auiiuul matter 

 \Ybich is so produced. 



Before the investigations of Mr. I>;.r\vin lind led other persons 

 to work at the subject, the nieanin^u; of these phenomena was 

 very little appreciat.'d. Only a few years aiio, Duchartre, a 

 French physiological botanist, after mentioning the views of Ellis 

 and Curtis with respect to Dion^a, expressed his opinion that 

 the idea that its leaves aUsorbed dissolved animal substances was 

 too evidently in disagreement with our knowledge of the func 

 tion of leaves and the whole ceuirse of veiretable nutrition to de- 

 serve being seriously discussed. 



Perhaps if the Droserac(a3 were j.n if^olated case of a group of 

 plants exhibiting propensities of this kind, there might be some 

 reason for such a criticism. But I think 1 shall be able to show 

 you that this is by no means the case. We have now reason to 

 believe that there are many instances of these carniovrous habits 

 in diiferent parts of the vegetable kingdom, and among plants 

 which have nothing else. in common but this. 



As another illustration I shall t:ike the very curious group of 

 Pitcher-plants which is peculiar to the New World. And here 

 also I think we shall find it most convenient to follow the his- 

 torical order in the facts. 



S'lrracen'ui. — The Genus Sarracenia consists of eight species, 

 all similar in habit, and all natives of the Eastern States of 

 North America, where they are found more especially in bogs, 

 and even in places covered with shallow water. Their leaves, 

 which give them a character entirely their own, are pitcher- 

 shaped or trumpet-like, and are collected in tufts springing im- 

 mediately from ihe ground ; and they send up at the flowering 

 season one or uiore slender stems bearing each a solitary flower. 

 This has a singular aspect, due to a great extent to the umbrella- 

 like expansion in which the style terminates; the shape of this, 

 or perhaps, of llie whole flower, caused the first English settlers 

 to give to the plant tiie name of Side-saddle Flower. 



A:^arn(cenia jmrpurea is the best known species. About ten 

 years ago it enjoyed an evanescent notoriety from the fact that 

 its rootstock was proposed as a remedy for small-pox. It is 

 found from Newfoundland southward to Florida, and is fairly 

 hardy under open-air cultivation in the British Isles. At the 

 commencement of the seventeenth century, Clusius published a 

 figure ol' it, from a sketch which Ibund its way to Lisbon aud 



