678 CONSERVATIVE ORGANS. [LECT. XI. 



evening dews, which fall in the climates where the 

 plant is indigenous, are the remote cause of the 

 lid opening at night. 



These facts, and a careful examination of the 

 structure of the organ, have led me to imagine 

 that the movements of the lid are entirely me- 

 chanical, and depend on a hydroscopic action of 

 the ring forming the lip of the pitcher. We find 

 that this ring (d. d. 3. 4.), as I have already stated, 

 is a scroll formed of the lip of the pitcher, rolled 

 outwards : it ends abruptly (3. a. b.) close to the 

 hinge of the lid; and is there much thicker, owing 

 to the convolution of the scroll being larger at 

 that part, than in the front of the pitcher. At the 



hinge, also, the lid 

 has a small auricle 

 or projection (a. 

 4.) on each side*. 

 Now I suppose that 

 the natural position 

 of the lid is that in 

 which it covers the 

 mouth of the pitcher ; and, i n a dry state of the 

 atmosphere, it lies close upon the mouth, be- 

 cause the scroll is contracted or closely rolled 

 up, like any other hydroscopic body : but, when 



* These cuts show also that the lid is cmarginatc in front 

 (c. c. 3. 4.) ; and in 4-. ?>> we have a view of the costa which 

 terminates in the hinge. 



