THE MUSEUM. 



169 



jmE MUSEUNL_ 



A Monthly Magazine devoted to Ornithology, 



Oology, Mollusca, Echinodermata, 



Mineralogy and Allied 



Sciences. 



Walter F. Webb, Editor and Manager 

 Albion, N. Y. 



C^>rrp^>I)onJ■ 

 IC3. as well . 

 WorM— view- 

 ; ; "■\: anil 



■'- Ills of int(.'rost ou above lop- 



; the various Mnsemiis of the 



. , discoveries rehiUve to the 



ping of Natural History material, 



ve habits of varlouij species, are solicited 



1- possible and as free from 

 .iects will allow. All letters 



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NOTES- 



W'e place on record another egg of 

 the rare CaHfornia Condor secured the 

 third of May this year, having received 

 the specimen since the pubHcation of 

 the last Mlseum. This makes three 

 eggs of this rare bird we have secured 

 this season but only one was taken in 

 1S9S. This last specimen is strictly 

 typical and found in same place as the 

 other two, one egg having been taken 

 each year for the last three years from 

 the same nest. 



We regret to learn that the Osprcy 

 is to be sold owing to the failing health 

 of the editor. Mr. Johnson offers the 

 Osprcy for sale together with all the 

 eggs, books, i.S;c. he has on hand. 



Spiders and Pitcher Plants. 



In the insectivorous plants of the 

 genus Nepenthes, a form represented 

 by a number of species and widely 

 distributed over the Indian and Aus- 

 tralian regions, as well as in Madagas- 



car, the pitchers or insect-traps, which 

 are usually regarded as expansions of 

 the leaf-stalk, are suspended, mouth 

 upward, at the ends of long tendrils 

 proceeding from the tips of the leaves. 

 The gaping orifice, fre(]uently strength- 

 ened and kept open by a thickening of 

 the rim, is protected by a lid, which, 

 while preventing the infall of rain, 

 offers no obstruction to the free en- 

 trance of insects. To attract the 

 attention of these animals the 

 pitchers are frequently conspicuously 

 colored in their upper parts, and 

 honey is secreted from glands scattered 

 around the margin of the aperture and 

 on the under-face of the lid. This 

 gaudy and sweetened portion, designed 

 as it is to catch the eye and act as a 

 bait, constitutes the "attractive" area. 

 A short distance within the cavity and 

 below the attractive area just de- 

 scribed, the walls of the pitcher are 

 smooth and of a waxy consistency, so 

 that no foothold is afforded to insects, 

 which are consequently precipitated to 

 the bottom of the pitfall if luckless or 

 incautious enough to venture on this 

 "conductive" area. The lower -part 

 of the receptacle is filled to a greater 

 or less extent with a fluid, containing 

 among other substances potassium 

 chloride, malic and citric acids, as 

 well as soda lime and magnesia in 

 smaller quantities, and an enzyme 

 which, in the presence of the acids, 

 has the power of digesting organic 

 matter. This fluid, poured out as a 

 secretion from a large number of 

 glands developed in the adjacent walls 

 of the pitcher, is usually crowded with 

 the indigestible remains of insects, 

 commingled with those of which the 

 nutritious tissues are in process of de- 

 composition under the action of the 

 alimentary juice of the plants and of 

 the bacteria which infest it. 



The spiders of the family Thomisida 

 belong to that artificial section of the 

 order sometimes spoken of comprehen- 

 sively as the wandering or hunting 

 species as opposed to those of seden- 

 tary habit, which spin snares for the 



