MICROSCOPICAL COLLECTIONS IN FLORIDA. 141 



There is only one other insectivorous plant found in Florida, 

 the pitcher plant, (Sarracenia variolaris\ a species growing 

 only in the South 'Atlantic States. It is found in low and wet 

 places among the open pine-barrens, but is not as abundant as the 

 others which have been mentioned. The leaf is a hollow, coni- 

 cal or trumpet-shaped tube, with a flange or wing running up 

 one side, and a hood which arches over the orifice of the tube. 

 Durin*g the growing season this tube is usually more than half 

 filled with water, which we must suppose secreted by the plant 

 itself, because the hood effectually sheds all rain water from it. 

 Crowded into the bottom of the tubes of mature leaves, we shall 

 almost invariably find a mass of the hard and indigestible parts 

 of insects. These creatures have been in some way attracted 

 into that suspicious looking receptacle, and once in have been 

 unable to get out again. A mere partially covered tube however, 

 with a little water in it, is by no means a fly-trap. Not one 

 insect in a hundred would fall into that well and drown, if there 

 were not some special device absolutely preventing it from 

 crawling upward. Now a microscopical examination of the in- 

 side of the hood and tube of the pitcher plant reveals the most 

 skillful contrivance for securing insect prey that could possibly 

 be imagined. In the first place, there are in the upper part of 

 the receptacle and about the mouth, great numbers of sessile 

 glands which secrete abundantly a sweet fluid very attracting to 

 ants and flies. Further, there is on the inner surface of the hood 

 and mouth, a formidable array of comparatively long pike- 

 pointed spines, all pointing backward and downward. These 

 grade off into shorter, more blunt, but still exceedingly sharp- 

 pointed spines, which overlap each other like tiles on the roof of 

 a house. This kind of coating lines the tube for a third of the 

 way down, the spines growing finer until at last they grade off 

 into regular hairs which line all the lower part of the tube ; 

 spines and hairs all pointing downward. An insect attempting 

 to retrace its steps after its ambrosial feast, would find nothing 

 which it could penetrate or grasp with the booklets of its feet ; 

 and the wetness of the spines, from the constantly overflowing 

 glands, would probably prevent it from making use of any other 



