12.S PLANTS WITH TRAPS AND PITFALLS TO ENSNARE ANI.\L\L.S. 



leaf is tliin, translucent, ami pale-gre<;n or whitish; and these clear translucent 

 patches, framed by purple or green ribs, look as if they were little windows, 

 especially when seen from within the utricle. The mixture of green, red, and white 

 gives the upper parts of the leaves such a gay appearance that, from a distance, they 

 might be mistaken for flowers. 



Insects are doubtless attracted by these bright colours, and both round the 

 orifice, and on the inner surface of the cupola, they find exudations of honey which 

 they suck or lick up with avidity. In Sarracenia, variolaris, honey is to be seen 

 besides, on the edge of a broad free border which is decurrent along the utricle, and 

 extends from the ground to the orifice. This border forms a favourite path for 

 wingless insects, especially ants, which are particularly eager in their quest for 

 honey. For them it is a sure way to destruction, for when they, gradually 

 following the honey-baited pathM^ay, arrive at the orifice to the utricle and pass 

 through it, they inevitably get upon the smooth decurved points of the epidermal 

 cells, constructed just like those in Sarracenia purpurea, and then, unable to stop 

 themselves, slip down to the bottom of the pitcher. When small winged insects 

 alight from flying and fall down the slide into the interior, they make use of their 

 wings in the hope of saving themselves, but they never succeed in finding the 

 aperture by which they entered, as it slants downwards and is situated in shadow. 

 They invariably try to escape through the cupola, mistaking the tliin portions, 

 through which the light penetrates into the interior, for gaps permitting egress. 

 But just as flies in rooms dash against the windows hoping to pass through them 

 into the open air, so the small insects in the utricles of Sarracenia variolaris and 

 Darlingtonia Californica knock against these windowed cupolas, in their desire 

 to save themselves by flying through. They always fall down again to the bottom 

 of the utricle as though into a cistern. If they are immersed in the liquid there 

 secreted, or only in partial contact with it, they are stupefied, but not immediately 

 killed. They often live incarcerated for two days, and it would therefore be 

 erroneous to suppose that the fluid in the pitchers acts on the prey as a deadly 

 poison. But it assists the decay and dissolution of the captives as they die of 

 starvation and suftbcation, and, as in the case of the utricle-plants previously 

 described, a brown liquor of very unpleasant odour is produced, and there is a 

 residue of solid pieces of skeleton difficult to decompose, such as the wing-cases, 

 claws, and thoraces of various beetles, lice, ants, and other small insects which have 

 shared the same unlucky fate. 



The number of animals captured is very considerable. The pitchers of 

 Sarracenia variolaris, which attain to a length of 30 cm., are usually found, when 

 growing in their natural habitat, filled to a height of from 8 to 10 cm. with animal 

 remains, and even a heap 15 cm. high has been observed. We must here remark 

 that in the ascidia of Sarracenia variolaris, wingless insects, which creep about the 

 earth, are found to predominate, whilst in Darlingtonia, on the contrary, most of 

 the insects are winged. The cause of this is easilj- understood. The former plant 

 has honey exuding on tlie flap or ridge running down from the orifice to the 



