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XVI, Desultory Observations concerning certain vegetahle 

 Miiscicapce. By Professor Barton, of Philadelphia. 

 Communicated by the Author. 



A. FEW years ago, I accidentally discovered that the flowers, 

 of Xhe uisclepias syriaca of Linnaeus*, like the flowers of 

 the Apocynum androscBmi folium, are endowed with the 

 faculty of catching and retaining flies and various other 

 kinds of insects. I have given some account of this dis- 

 covery in the Transactions of the American Philosophical 

 Society f. 



In the course of the present year (1811) I have ascer- 

 tained that the beautiful Asclepias curassavica is also a Mu- 

 scipula, or rather &Mnscicapa. My observations were made 

 on a small and by no means vigorous plant of this species, 

 which I had raised from seed. These observations con- 

 vince me that chis Asclepias, in its native climate, or any- 

 where else when adult and vigorous, must be a powerful 

 and even useful fly-catcher. It often so completely retains 

 insects, even pretty large house-flies, that they are wholly 

 incapable of disengaging themselves, but perish upon the 

 flowers. Others, hardly more fortunate, escape with the 

 loss of their proboscis, or some of their limbs. Few, per- 

 haps, esca\)e entirely uninjured. — The mechanism by which 

 Asclepias curassavica catches flies, is nearly the same as that 

 by which they are caught in Asclepias syriaca /3. 



As the oenus Asclepias consists of a considerable number 

 of species, and as all the species are so similarly constructed 

 that there is no good reason to doubt that thev are all en- 

 dued with the power of catching insects, it is easy to per- 

 ceive what an immense havoc these plants must make of 

 animal life, especially in many parts of the United States, 

 where some of the species of Asclepias are so numerous 

 that they cover hundreds of acres of ground, in close con- 

 nexion, especially along the banks of our rivers, in the 

 sandy fields, Sec. 



In the short paper entitled " Memorandum concerning 

 a new VegetableMuscipula," which is inserted in thcTrans- 

 actions of the American Philosophical Society, and to which 



* /Uclepiits fijTinca /3. of Michaux. 



•)• Vol. vi. part i. No. xvi. p. 79 — 82. Mr. Sonnini has given the credit of 

 this little discovery to an English naturalist of my name. The respectable 

 Irench naturalist, speaking of t!ie /^sc/f/>iss iyriaca, says, " Une propriety 

 curieuse de cos memos fkurs, dont la dccouvertc rJcentc est due avi Doctcur 

 Parton, de Londrts, c'cst qii'elles attrapent les numclics qui s'y poscnt at- 

 tir(-es par le sue miclleux qu'elles contieiinent." — " Plus de soixantc mouches 



furtnt prisrs sous les ycux de 1' obtcrvat'.ur Aiiglaa, &c." — JuurnaL de 



f'Uynnuf, *c. loin. Ixvi, ^.'Z\'3. 



I have 



