SIDE-SADDLE FLOWERS. 87 



" I next examined a great many perfect leaves with 

 the throat open. In almost every leaf the secretion 

 was to be found, containing generally from ten to 

 fifteen drops, very rarely a half drachm. Even in these 

 open leaves the admission of rain-water is next to 

 impossible, so completely does the upper lid overhang 

 the mouth or throat, like the projecting eaves of a 

 house. Unless in a severe rain-storm, and perhaps 

 not even then, would this be possible. 



" With very rare exceptions dead and decaying, or, 

 more properly, macerated insects were to be found 

 packed at the base of the tube — most frequently a 

 large red ant — also beetles, bugs, flies, &c., and 

 invariably within the decaying mass one or more 

 small white worms, perhaps the larvai of insects 

 hatched within the putrefying mass. ^ " 



Accepting the explanation as satisfactory, we 

 arrive at the conclusion that the tubes or pitchers of 

 the Sarracenias have the power of secreting a limpid 

 fluid, in addition to the honey-like secretion of the 

 lip, and that this fluid is collected at the bottom of 

 the tube, into which the captured insects fall. Having 

 sipped the nectar which was spread at the mouth, a 

 harmless but seductive lure, spread upon treacherous 

 ground, we have seen that the structure of the tube 

 was favourable to the retention of the insects, and 



1 Dr. Asa Gray in " New York Tribune," 1874, and 

 "Gardener's Chronicle," June 27, 1874, p. 818. 



