80 REMARKABLE FLOWERS. [CHAP. 
which collects the rain and dew. Sometimes as 
much as half a pint of clear liquid may be found in 
this natural cup, and pedestrians 
on a warm summer day might be 
slad to stop and take a drink from 
this stately plant, were it not that 
insects will persist in commit- 
ting suicide in it. The following 
note communicated to “Science 
Gossip,” 1879, by Mr. J. Saunders, 
well illustrates our remark about 
this plant. Hesays: “This plant 
crows plentifully on some parts of 
the Crumbles, Eastbourne, and 
during the present season it has 
illustrated in a striking manner the use of the con- 
nate bases of its leaves. The excessive rains of 
the month of June filled the whole of the connate 
cups with water; and, notwithstanding the boister- 
ous winds, the stems were sufficiently rigid to resist 
their action to such an extent as to preserve a good 
supply of the fluid, especially in the lowest pairs of 
leaves. On examining them, it appeared that every 
cup had caused the death of a goodly number of 
the enemies of the plant, such as ants, caterpillars, 
earwigs, and such like small deer. There were at 
least ten or a dozen creatures drowned in the lowest 
cup of each plant. A few were to be found in some 
of the higher cups, and in such cases nearly all of 
the leaves, forming the receptacles, had contact with 
adjacent plants. The inference seemed perfectly 
sound that the leaves were so modified as to collect 
