58 I lOUIiKS OF THE FIELD AND FOREST. 



as nourishment in a way more analogous to the processes of plant 

 life than do the Drosera and Dioiuca. 



We are indebted to an admirable study of Sarracenia vario- 

 lafis, published in 1874, by Dr. Mellichamp of South Carolina, 

 for the best report yet made of the insect-capturing habit of 

 the Pitcher-Plant. The species above-named is larger than the 

 one so accurately represented in our plate. It has yellow flowers, 

 and the trumpet-shaped "pitcher" is from ten to twenty inches 

 long, and is covered at top with an overarching hood which quite 

 effectually excludes the rain. It grows common in the South and 

 is often transplanted into the house to serve as a domestic fly-trap. 

 It is furnished with the necessary appliances for capturing insects 

 in this way. Along the leaf border or wing of the pitcher quite 

 down to the ground are secreted at regular short intervals drops of 

 a sweet liquid which is very palatable to flies, ants, bugs, and other 

 insects. These make a baited path, or honey-trail straight up the 

 leaf to the open mouth of the pitcher at top. Around the margin 

 of the mouth and well down the interior the sugary drops exude. 

 Of course the hungry insect led up the honeyed road of danger 

 presses on regardless of peril, over the margin, down into the open 

 mouth of the pitcher, mindful only of the abundant sweets. But he 

 soon comes to a place on the inner surface of the pitcher where he 

 cannot maintain his foothold. The surface for several inches is 

 there covered with a velvety nap of downward-pointing smooth 

 hairs. 



An ant, or any other wingless insect, directly he steps upon 

 this treacherous surface falls into the depths, where he finds the 

 narrowing space for several inches beset on all sides with long 

 sharp spines pointing inward and downward. His frantic efforts 



