122 TALKS AFIELD. 



sometimes grown about the house as fly- 

 traps, but although they catch flies in abun- 

 dance the odor from the decaying insects 

 is not pleasant. The plant absorbs food 

 from the mingled contents of its pitchers. 

 So persistently do some of the Sarracenias 

 catch flies that they cannot be cultivated on 

 account of the bursting of the pitchers from 

 overloading unless the mouths are closed 

 with cotton. Some animals have learned of 

 the peculiar habit of the Sarracenias and 

 have taken to stealing the food which the 

 plant has caught. Two species of insects, a 

 fly and a moth, are habitually associated with 

 some of the Southern pitcher-plants. Tliey 

 have learned apparently to evade the seduc- 

 tive honey and the fatal trap, and in some 

 manner drop their eggs into the mingled 

 contents of the pitcher, where the larvae 

 thrive. Birds are said to slit the pitchers to 

 secure the insects. 



A very singular plant, closely allied to the 

 Sarracenias, is the Darlingtonia of Califor- 

 nia, represented in miniature in Fig. 86. 

 This plant grows in the vicinity of Mt. 

 Shasta at an altitude of 1,000 to 6,000 feet. 

 The pitchers are eighteen to twenty-four 

 inches high and an inch or less in diame- 



