PLANTS WITH TRAPS AND PITFALLS TO ENSNARE ANIMALS. 131 
natural size in fig. 22. This Cephalotus also has two kinds of leaves, which are 
closely crowded in a rosette round the erect flower-stalk. Only the lower leaves 
of the rosette are transformed into traps for animals, and these are pre-eminently 
adapted for wingless creatures creeping upon the earth. The tankard-shaped 
traps all rest on the damp earth, and are furnished externally with borders or 
winged ridges, which facilitate the ascent 
of crawling animals to the mouth of the 
tankard. Flying insects are of course not 
excluded, and here again they are made 
aware from afar of the feast of honey 
provided by the presence of bright colours. 
The half-open lid is very prettily adorned 
with white patches and brilliant purple 
veins, and at a distance is readily mistaken 
for a flower. 
When small animals, whether with or 
without wings, approach to take the 
honey, they are so eager in their search 
that they get upon the inner surface of 
the mouth of the tankard-pitcher, which, 
though fluted, is also very smooth and 
slippery, and thence they easily slide into 
the interior of the cavity. The pitchers 
being half-full of liquid, most of the un- 
lucky creatures die there in a short time 
by drowning. But even if this were not 
the case, they would never succeed in 
working their way up to the light of 
day. For every animal that wishes to save 
itself from a Cephalotus pitcher has three 
obstacles to overcome: first, a circular 
ridge projecting mside the pitcher; sec- 
ondly, a bit of wall thickly covered with 
little papille, sharp, ridged, and pointed downward, the whole being comparable 
to a flax-comb; and, lastly, on the involute rim round the mouth of the pitcher, 
another fringe composed of hooked, decurved spines which bristle like an im- 
penetrable row of bayonets in front of such animals as may have surmounted 
the other difficulties. The abundance of the booty found at the bottom of Cepha- 
lotus pitchers shows how efficiently these contrivances serve to prevent escape. 
Ants, for instance, sacrifice themselves recklessly in their pursuit of honey, and 
one often finds great numbers of them drowned in the liquid in the pitchers. The 
prey is not in this case converted into a putrid liquor, but is partially dissolved by 
a secretion having an acid reaction. This secretion is separated out by special 
