over at the top, so as to form a dome somewhat longer than broad, 

 and the uppermost half of the pitcher being of a decided ripe pear 

 yellow. They are all twisted spirally, especially in the upper portion ; 

 and they contain at the lower part a layer of from two to five inches 

 of the closely packed remains of insects of all sizes from minute 

 beetles to large powdery moths. When a sharp knife is passed 

 through a lot of brown pitchers withering round an old plant, the 

 stumps resemble a number of tubes densely packed with the remains 

 of insects ; but what it is that attracts the insects is by no means 

 clear. Within the pitcher the surface is smooth for a little way 

 down ; then isolated hairs appear ; and soon the chamber becomes 

 densely lined with sharp needle-like hairs all pointing downwards, 

 so decidedly indeed, that they almost lie against the surface from 

 which they spring. These hairs are slender, transparent, and colour- 

 less, about a quarter of an inch long and very rigid. The poor insects 

 evidently travel down these conveniently arranged stubbles, but 

 none seem to turn back. The pitcher, which may be a couple of 

 inches wide at the top, narrows very gradually at the base where it 

 is a little more than a line in diameter. For some little distance 

 above this point, the hairs all converge, and the unhappy fly goes 

 on till he finds his head pressed against the thick firm bottom of the 

 cell and his rear against myriads of bayonets. Very small creatures 

 fill up the narrow base, and above them larger ones densely pack 

 themselves to death in the hope of fighting their way out. When 

 held with the top upwards, a reddish juice with an exceedingly 

 ofiensive odour will sometimes drop from them."* 



Another method of destruction, of a more peculiar nature, is 

 found in the dogsbane, (Apocyjium androsoemifolium), a North 

 American plant. Here we see certain toothlets on the inner 

 surface of the flower, endowed with an extraordinary degree of 

 irritability. No sooner does an insect, eager to secure the honey- 

 like nectar, apply its proboscis to the flower, than these segments 

 close over it, and the victim is held in a hopeless captivity, until 

 death puts an end to its struggles. The vice-like toothlets then 

 relax their hold, and the body falls ofi". In consequence of this 

 curious faculty the plant has acquired the name of Gohe-mouche in 

 France, while to the Germans is it known as Fliegen fanger or 

 flycatcher. 



We have seen how pertinaciously plants attack and destroy insects, 

 by enveloping them in deadly folds, by gradually eating their very 

 vitals, or by catching them in traps and gins of ingenious make ; 

 but perhaps the last mode of destruction we should credit them 

 with is that of drowning theu' victims ; and yet it is one to which 

 they have constant resource. The Teazles of Europe — both the com- 

 mon wild kind (Dipsaciis silvestris), and that so largely employed in 

 the manufacture of cloth (Dipsams fallonum)— do a considerable 

 amount of murder in this way. In these plants the leaves are 

 placed in opposite pairs, and are in technical language "connate ;" 

 that is to say, the bases of each pair of leaves are as closely com- 

 bined, as though they were one leaf, thus forming a hollow cup, 

 which retains the rain and dew so successfully, that it is rarely 

 empty even in very warm weather. Hither then, insects eagerly 



*W. Robinson. (Transactions Linn. Soc, 1870.) 



