1 1 2 Observations concerning 



<-au5e of the collections of insects which are so frequently 

 observed in the ascidia of the Sarracenice. These aiscidia, 

 in some if not in all the species of the genuS, appear to 

 possess a kind of glandular function, like the true nectaries 

 of a oreat many plants. A honeyed fluid is secreted or de- 

 posited on the inner surface of the hollow leaves near their 

 faux or opening; and it is this fluid which allures great 

 numbers of the insects, which they are found to contain, 

 into the ascidia. 



I was entirely unacquainted with this curious osconomy 

 in the ascidia of the SarracenirB when 1 published the first 

 edition of my Elements of Botany ; and even when I printed 

 the Appendix (in vol. i.) to the second edition of this work. 

 The fact will not be deemed uninteresting by the cultivators 

 of veszetable physiology, since it somewhat enlarges our 

 viewsof the uses of the ascidia, and may assist us in making 

 a better disposition of these parts among the glands, or 

 olandular-like organs, of vegetables. I have little doubt, 

 moreover, that a more accurate examination of the genera 

 of Nepenthes, Aquarium, and similar plants, of which the 

 number is not inconsiderable, will render it certain that a 

 honeyed fluid deposited about the opening of the ascidia of 

 these remarkable plants, is in them, as in the Sarracenio!, 

 the principal cause of the deposits of insects which the tu- 

 bular leaves are so generally found lb contain. Let nie 

 add, that in the American plants, of which I have been 

 speaking, the honeved fluid may often be very distinctly 

 seen; though sometimes, especially in the warmer weather, 

 it is only to be discovered by the taste. 



Many insects, as well as some other animals, are found 

 in the ascidiaof the Surracenrce, Nepenthes^ &c. which do 

 not appear to have been solicited thither eitht^r by the ca- 

 daverous odour of the flowers, or by the honeyed fluid about 

 the openin<l of the tubular structure. In the Sarracenice 

 we find species and sometimes large species of gryllus, or 

 grasshoppers, of gyrinus^ &c. And Rumphius, speaking 

 of Nepenthes dislitlutoria, informs us that " various little 

 worms and insects crav.l into the orifice and die in the tube, 

 except a certain small squilla or shrimp, with a protuberant 

 back, sometimes met with, which lives there." Smith's 

 Introduction, c^c. pages iy7, igs. Dr. Smith has "no 

 doubt, thai this shrimp feeds on the other insects and 

 worms, and that the same purposes are answered in this 

 instance as in the Sarracenice." 



h is certain, that a remarkable instinct directs some 

 species of insects lo visit ih.c ascidia of difiercilt species of 



SurrQcenia. 



