1885-86.] Edinbjtrgh Naturalists' Field Club. 287 



and of large size ; while in 8. Drummondii, S. rubra, S. purpurea, 

 and *S'. psittacina, they are of a greenish crimson or crimson colour. 



Each petal, springing from the receptacle, grows outward and 

 downward (in drooping position), till it abuts against the upturned 

 edge of the umbrelloid style, over which it spreads, and then hangs 

 down as a broad free flap. In adjacent petals, between the point 

 of origin and abutment against the style, a space is left through 

 which insects can crawl into the interior ; and in doing this, they, 

 in almost all cases, must rub against one of the minute stigmatic 

 knobs. The stamens develop an abundance of pollen, which 

 escapes by apical, and eventually by longitudinal, dehiscence of 

 the anthers, on the opening of the flower, or, at most, a day after. 



The outer wall of the ovary is covered by large, compound, 

 wart-like honey-glands, differing completely in structure and 

 appearance from the other glands of Sarracenia, and from these 

 an enormous quantity of nectar distils. From the position of 

 the ovary, this trickles dowTi among the filaments, and, washing 

 down the pollen, falls in drops on the inner umbrelloid cavity of 

 the style-head. 



Insects, tempted doubtless to the flowers by the external 

 bracteolar and sepaline nectar, and, to a greater or less degree, by 

 the colour of the petals, push through the gap between each pair 

 of the latter, and enter the umbrelloid cavity. In sipping the 

 abundant nectar, they simultaneously get smeared with pollen. I 

 have been unable to ascertain exactly the period of rij^ening of the 

 stigmatic knobs ; but insects in leaving the flowers can do so 

 readily by pushing up the flap of the petals, or by passing out the 

 way they entered without touching the stigma, since in the latter 

 case they most easily escape by emerging on one side of the 

 stigmatic part of the style process. Judging from analogy with 

 other bright-coloured flowers, one would expect a protandrous con- 

 dition in ripening of the stamens and pistil, and I incline to think, 

 from all I have observed, that a considerable period may intervene 

 between shedding of the pollen and ripening of the stigmas. This 

 may, in fact, explain why gardeners consider it difficult to obtain 

 seed-capsules either from self- or cross-fertilised flowers. An in- 

 teresting relation might doubtless be traced between the varying 

 colour of the flowers of the different species and the particular 

 insect which visits each, if these were watched in their native 

 haimts — the swamps of central and eastern N. America. 



It may only be noted further that, in several of the species, 

 hairs are present on the outside and inside of the umbrelloid style, 

 which will guide insects into the interior as powerfully as the 

 similarly arranged hairs on the interior of the leaf-tube. 



