THE WONDERS OF VEGETATION. 257 



lobes lie open, like the leaves of a book, and a liquid 

 resembling honey is spread lightly over the edges, 

 which attracts the unwary fly. Between the two 

 lobes, just where they join, there are three sharp bris- 

 tles, and as soon as a fly, or any other insect crawling 

 over the surface, happens to touch one of the bristles, 

 the irritability of the plant is excited, and the lobes, 

 suddenly closing, imprison the insect like a rat in a 

 common gin. Its efforts to escape have only the ef- 

 fect of closing the curious trap more firmly. The 

 prison doors do not open until all movement ceases, 

 or in other words, till the insect is dead ; then the 

 lobes unfold and wait for another victim. 



Another pitcher-plant, peculiar to the United 

 States, is the Darlingtonia (Calif arnica), growing on 

 the Sierra Nevada, at an altitude of 5,000 feet above the 

 sea. When fully grown it bears a most striking re- 

 semblance to the upraised head and body of an excit- 

 ed Cobra, with hood expanded, and preparing for a 

 spring. The head is at right angles with the verti- 

 cal, hollow body, and apparently presents no -open- 

 ing by which an insect could enter ; under the place 

 where the lower jaw would be, hang two large red- 

 dish appendages, like the " wattles" of a fowl. Flies 

 and insects of every kind are irresistibly attracted by 

 the large pitchers which this plant bears; they 

 alight on the red " wattles," and then fly upwards 

 into the tube ; owing to a sudden twist in the neck 

 of the pitcher, they are at once compelled to descend 

 the hollow body, and never return alive. The old 

 pitchers are generally full of dead flies, and as they 



