424 NATURE'S TEACHINGS. 



NEXT to the Traveller's Tree is shown one of those extraor- 

 dinary vegetables called Pitcher-plants, from the strange con- 

 formation of the leaves. They inhabit Borneo, Siam, and other 

 hot countries. In these remarkable plants some of the leaves 

 are developed into suitable pitchers, with hinged lids, exactly 

 like our hot- water jugs. They serve, however, a different office, 

 and contain cold water which the plant has distilled from the 

 dew. 



As the monkeys are in the habit of resorting to these plants 

 when thirsty, they are sometimes called Monkey-pots. There 

 is an admirable account of the Pitcher- plants and their deve- 

 lopment in the Transactions of the Linn&an Society, vol. xxii. 

 part iv. The scientific name of those plants is Nepenthes. 



BELOW the vegetable comes a rather celebrated animal cis- 

 tern, namely, a portion of one of the stomachs of a Camel. 



It exactly corresponds with that part of an ox which butchers 

 call " honey-comb tripe," and consists of a multitude of cells, 

 which can be closed or opened at will. When the camel takes 

 in its provision of water, it can treat this portion of the stomach 

 much as the hive bee treats the honey -bag, and fill its cells 

 with water. 



By degrees, when it finds the necessity for moisture, it can 

 squeeze the water out of these receptacles into the digestive 

 portion of the interior, and so can sustain life for a wonderfully 

 long time under conditions which would kill any other animal. 

 I may remark, by the way, that the amount which a camel can 

 drink, and the length of time through which it can endure its 

 desert life, have been much exaggerated. There is another 

 point to be considered, namely, the curious resemblance between 

 these cells and the honey-comb of the hive bee. Every one 

 knows that honey, no matter how tightly closed, will crystallize 

 and lose its best qualities if kept in jars, whereas if it be 

 allowed to remain in the waxen comb, where it is divided into 

 very small portions, it will remain good for years. 



It is just the same with the cells of the camel's stomach, 

 they being able to preserve water in a pure state by distributing 

 it among a number of small cells, which can be opened or closed 

 at will. 



Then we come to the various means of obtaining water. 



