LINNEAN SOCIETY OF LONDON. 1 3 



growth of the tissues in which they are embedded, they are more 

 or less ovei'-arched, the openiug of the arch looking downwards. 

 The surface of the tissue is hard and polished, quite smooth to the 

 finger moving in a downward direction, and rougli to the finger, 

 from the sharp edges of the arches, moving in an upward 

 direction. JV. Lowii has much larger, differently shaped pitchers, 

 constricted in the mitldle, with sunken honey-glands on the 

 lid as much as y^ inch in diameter and a very small pore- 

 opening. The digestive glands in the lower part of the pitcher 

 are pentagonal to heptagonal in shape, \\ ith a raised, hard rim all 

 round. The collar is the simplest in the genus, but it has a 

 prominent, single series of perithecoid honey-glands near its inner 

 margin. 



N. lidjah, in a wild state at least, has sometimes a total length 

 of leaf and pitcher of betvxeen five and six feet, with a very 

 elaborate collar and a corab-like inner margin and solitary honey- 

 jj;lands, reached by a tunnel-like opening between the teeth ; the 

 largest pitchers have a capacity of two tpiarts. In N. echinostoma 

 the collar consists of several series of combs, directed inwards and 

 downwards, with a similar honey -gland in eacli tooth. iV. Ed- 

 ivardsiana has a relatively narrow pitcher sometimes as much as 

 two feet long, and the collar iias thin transverse rings that are 

 A'ery distinctive. The collar of iV. echinostoma is remarkable in 

 having about four series of flattened spines, projecting inwards 

 and downwards ; each spine has an apic-al pore, the opening to a 

 deeply seated honey-gland. In all other species the glands are 

 between the teeth or spines. The digestive glands in the upper 

 part of the retentive zone of this pitcher are very small, and 

 number about 15,000 to the square inch. JV. Northiuna and 

 N. Feitchii have remarkable broad turn-down, plaited, scolloped 

 collars ; N. hicalcarata is remarkable in having two very sharj) 

 spurs springing from near the hinge of the lid and projecting over 

 the mouth of the pitcher; N. celehica has a horn-like appendage 

 on the lid at a point opposite the hinge. 



The complex arrangements favour the descent of insects and 

 other creatures into the pitchers, and hinder almost all visitors 

 from getting out again ; once in, there is little hope of escape. 

 A few hybrids were also shown, notably one named " Sir William 

 Tliiselton-Dyer," which has produced the largest pitcher known 

 in cultivation, being a pint and three-quarters in capacity. 



The following papers were read : — 



1. " On the Axillary Scales of certain Aquatic Monocotyledons." 

 By Prof. R. J. Harvey Gibson, F.L.S. 



2. "A fui'ther Contribution to the Stiidv of Pelomyxa palustris 

 (Greeff)." By Mrs. Lilian J. Veley, F.L.S. 



3. " On Mansonieae, a new Tribe of the Natural Order 

 Sterculiaceffi." Bv Lt.-Col. David Praiu, I.M.S., F.ll.S., F.L.S. 



