May 14, 1874. ] 



JOUKNAL OF HOETIOOLTDUE AND COTTAGS GABDENEB. 



383 



known flowers, except those of Eafllesia, tbey are marvellously 

 mottled, and marvellously ill-smelliug. Aristolocliia saccata, 

 or Pouch-flowered. Native of Silhet. Flowered in the Edin- 

 burgh Botanic Garden during the autumn of 1820. Its flowers, 

 purple, pink, and yellow, are handsome as well as peculiar of 

 form. Their smell attracts, and their form is calculated to 

 imprison, insects. Professor Graham remarked on it : — 

 " The large heavy pouch in the middle uf the tube neces- 



sarily keeps the flower pendulous, and its throat erect. Having 

 removed from the plant one of its racemes for examination, I 

 laid this down on the table, and was surprised to observe 

 a crowd of small flies immediately rush out at the throat. 

 I raised the flowers into then' natural position again ; and 

 though I saw, by placing them between me and the light, 

 that very many flies were etiU in the tube, all very restless, 

 and attempting to escape, not one could climb up the now 



ARISTOLOCHIA GALEATA. 



erect throat. I repeated this experiment many times, and 

 always with the same result. In the horizontal position of 

 the flower the flies came out instantly, in the erect position 

 they were imprisoned. I could not discover, even with the 

 microscope, any cause for this, and am forced to suppose that i 

 there may be a particular condition of the surface in the upper 

 part of the tube, from secretion or other cause, which prevents 

 the adhesion of the feet of the insects, though they are able to 

 walk along it when horizontal. 



" It is supposed that the confinement of insects in flowers 

 is to effect their imprfgnation, and it has been thought that 

 the decay of their bodies in other parts, as in DioiJfca, Ne- 

 penthes, and Sarracecia, tends to the nourithment of the 

 plant. The first I believe is tcmetimes tjue ; and though I 

 discredit the second theory, I have not in every suppoged in- 



stance the means of disproving it. In the case under con- 

 sideration, and I beUeve in others, the object seems altogether 

 different. Years ago, I observed a living worm on several of 

 the decayed leaves of Dionma muscipula, and was induced in 

 consequence to suspect that the capture of certain insects by 

 this plant was not for their destruction, but to provide a 

 proper nidus for their eggs ; and I more confidently believe 

 this to be the case with Aristolochia saccata ; for in all the 

 flowers of this plant which I opened, I found many perfect 

 eggs and many living maggots." 



Aristolochia Thuaiteiii. — Sir W. Hooker says, "It flowered ■ 

 in the stove of the Boyal Gardens early in March, 1856. It is 

 the handsomest of all the East Indian Aristolochia;, and re- 

 markable as well for the peculiar form of the perianth as for 

 the long narrow leaves. The flowers emit a fragrant smell, u 



