684 CONSERVATIVE ORGANS. [LECT. XI. 



" passed rapidly from one tube to another, delay- 

 " ing scarcely a moment at the faux of each, 

 " until it found, as it should seem, one suitable 

 " to its purpose; then, hanging its posterior ex- 

 " tremity over the margin, it ejected, on the in- 

 " ternal surface of the tube, a larva with a black 

 " head, which immediately proceeded downwards 

 " with a brisk vermicular motion." Sir J.E. Smith, 

 also, notices an observation made at the Botanic 

 Garden at Liverpool, which shows that, even in this 

 country, the Ichneumon fly employs the pitchers 

 of these plants for a similar purpose. An Ichneu- 

 mon was, one day, observed by one of the gar- 

 deners forcing large flies into the tubular cavity of 

 a leaf of Sarracenia adunca; and it is probable, 

 that it had previously deposited its eggs in their 

 carcasses, the eggs of the Ichneumon being often 

 deposited, and the larvae hatched, in the carcasses 

 of other flies or their larvae*. 



c. Peduncular ascidium. This description of 

 organ is rarely found on the peduncle. On 

 Surubea Guianemis -f~, however, we find a small 

 hollow body, connected with a singular forked 

 projection, which rides as it were across the 

 flower-stalk: and a similar body, but without 

 the fork, is observed on the peduncle of Ruyschia 



* Some Ichneumons deposit their eggs in the aurelia of 

 moths and butterflies. 



t Aubl. Boyl. Meyer, Fl. Essequtb. p. 120. 



