LECT. XI.] CAULINAR AND FOLIAR APPENDAGES. 675 



times is capable of holding- more than a pint of 

 fluid. 



The fluid found in the pitcher of Nepenthes is 

 sweet and limpid; and, according to Rumphius, 

 is the production of the plant. The same author, 

 also, remarks that the waste of it during the day, 

 which is generally about one half, is fully repaired 

 during the night * ; but when the lid is completely 

 open the pitcher becomes dry. The pitchers ap- 

 pear dry and withered when they are half full only 

 of water; and, when the dry season sets fairly in, 

 and the seed is nearly ripened, they completely 

 decay. In Amboyna and Java the plant is found 

 on dry, stony, elevated spots only; although in 

 Ceylon it is said to grow in the valleys on the 

 banks of streams. 



Phytologists have differed in opinion regarding 

 the cause which produces the opening and the 

 shutting of the lid of this vegetable pitcher. 

 The rising of the lid has been ascribed, by some, 

 to a sudden afflux of fluid rendering the vessels 

 connected with the hinge of the lid turgid; and: 

 the shutting to the receding of the fluid. By one 



* " Aqua refertus est limpida et dulci, operculo autem 

 " operto, haec sensim minuitur usque ad dimidiurn partem, ita 

 ** tamen ut per noctem iterum adcrescat tanta copia, quanta 

 " per diem fuit exsiccata, quum vero operculum totura sit 

 " contractual aqua haec sensim minuitur fere tota." Rumph. 

 Amboin. lib. vii. c. 61. 



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