STRUCTURE.] PITCHERS OF NEPENTHES. 299 



which case there would then be formed a fistular body like 

 the pitcher of Sarraceuia (fig. 58. B), and there would be no 



difficulty in identifying the acknowledged blade of the one 

 with the operculum of the other, or we may suppose this sort 

 of pitcher to be in reality a petiole hollowed out near its 

 extremity; and this idea is perhaps more conformable to 

 known facts, especially to the circumstance figured by Kort- 

 hals in the Verhandelingen over de Naturlijke Geschiedenis 

 der Nederlandsche bezittingen of the very earliest leaves of 

 seedling plants of his Nepenthes phyllamphora assuming the 

 condition of complete pitchers. Moreover, no transitions from 

 flat leaves to the hollow pitchers have yet been seen. I should 

 also remark that the following passage in Mr. Low's Sarawak 

 confirms the statement made by Korthals, with an important 

 addition. " The old stems of Nepenthes ampullacea falling 

 from the trees, become covered in a short time with leaves 

 and vegetable matter, which form a coating of earth about 

 them; they then throw out shoots which become in time 

 new plants ; but apparently the first attempts to form the 

 leaf are futile, and become only pitchers, which, as the 

 petioles are closely imbricated, form a dense mass, and 

 frequently cover the ground as with a carpet of these curious 

 formations. As it continues growing and endeavouring to 

 become a plant, the laminae of the leaves gradually appear, 

 small at first, but every new one increasing in size, until 

 filially the blades of the leaves are perfect, and the pitchers, 



