156 DIPSACACE.E. 



Country people cut open the heads, where they frequently find 

 a worm. An odd number of these worms, placed in a quill, is 

 believed to charm away sickness. The Fuller's Teasel grows 

 wild in many parts of Wiltshire. Its long serrated leaves 

 grow in pairs, and their shoulders are joined together, so that 

 they form a cup, where the rain and dew collect. This is the 

 only British plant which has this habit of collecting water ; but 

 in tropical countries many trees are endowed with such a 

 power. Dampier mentions that his thirst has often been 

 allayed, when he was in the West Indies, by perforating the 

 leaves of the Wild Pine, and receiving the water from below. 

 Dr. Murray states, that in Africa there is a tree called Boa 

 hollowed like a cistern, which receives and retains the dews. 

 The Birchwort of Canada is supplied with two leaves resembling 

 the halves of a bell, with a natural depression in the form of 

 a spout ; and these leaves afford a plentiful supply of water to 

 animals, as well as the occasional traveller. Prince Maximilian, 

 in his " Travels in the Brazils," informs us that the natives are 

 well acquainted with dew-collecting leaves, and thus the wan- 

 dering savages quench their thirst. The Pitcher-plants are 

 described by Mr. St. John, in his explorations in Borneo, as 

 such a beneficent contrivance for storing water. The Pitcher 

 of the largest species, the Nepenthe Hajah, contains four pints. 

 In one he found a drowned rat. The plants are as attractive 

 for their beauty as for their utility. Dr. Murray thus con- 

 cludes his remarks on the subject : " These are indeed 'pools 

 in the desert ; ' and it must forcibly strike the contemplative 

 mind as very remarkable, that succulent plants should be found 

 where we least expect to meet with them ; that an Infinitely 

 Wise Intelligence should have so formed vegetation as to 

 minister its supplies, and so moulded its foliage as to be- 

 come so many cisterns of water living fountains to quench 

 the thirst of the great tide of animation which swarms in 

 tropical countries, and without which they would certainly 

 perish. In no region of the globe is there wanting traces of 



