672 CONSERVATIVE ORGANS. [LECT. XI. 



" sists of rain-water received and preserved in it. 

 " The lid of the pitcher in the full-grown state 

 " was found either accurately closing its mouth (see 

 " cut, fig. 2), or having an erect position, and, 

 " therefore, leaving it entirely open (fig. l .) ; and 

 " it is not unlikely that the position of the lid is 

 " determined by the state of the atmosphere, or 

 " even by other external causes*." The sweet 

 taste of the water proves the existence of a 

 secerning power in some part of the interior of 

 the pitcher; and it is this saccharine quality 

 of the secretion which entices insects to enter 

 it ; but whether the plant derive any advantage 

 from the decomposing animal matter, that re- 

 sults from their destruction, has not yet been as- 

 certained; although, from the result of some ex- 

 periments, which I shall presently have occasion 

 to notice in reference to another plant, the putre- 

 factive process may prove very beneficial to the 

 economy of this plant. 



2. The foliar ascidium is peculiar to the genus 

 Nepenthes. In all the species, the pitcher is at- 

 tached by a cirrhose extension of the midrib at the 

 apex of the leaf, the sessile pitcher, as Mr. Brown 

 suggests, being peculiar to the young plant. In the 

 specimen figured in the margin, which is half the 



* Flinders' 's Voy. vol. ii. p. 602. 



