v.] REMARKABLE LEAVES. 73 



Perhaps the most remarkable development of leaves 

 is to be found in those of the Pitcher-plant. There 

 are various kinds of these 

 pitchers, differing widely as 

 to form, but agreeing in their 

 leaves being receptacles for 

 water. One of the best 

 known is the Nepenthes; there 

 are about twenty different 

 species of it known, most of 

 them inhabiting the swampy 

 grounds of the East Indies, 

 China, and the Malay Archi- 

 pelago. The pitchers in this genus are simply appen- 

 dages to the mid-rib of the leaf, which is drawn out 

 considerably beyond the blade, and a gland at the 

 extremity of it is developed into a hollow vessel with 

 a hinged lid. This "pitcher" contains a liquid which 

 has been found on analysis to consist of binoxalate 

 of potash, and, according to some chemists, muriate 

 of soda and malic acid. The accompanying cuts 

 illustrate the two forms of pitchers found among the 

 NepentJiacece. Fig. 79 is the funnel-shaped pitcher 

 from the upper leaves of N. distillatoria, from Ceylon. 

 Fig. 8p is the ampulla form of N. Chelsoni. The rich 

 brown mottling of this form is very beautiful. The 

 liquid serves to drown insects which have innocently 

 sought shelter in the cool vessel, and there is no doubt 

 that their decaying bodies are of service in nourishing 

 the plant, as in the insectivorous plants mentioned in 

 Chapter IV. It is, indeed, there that a description of 

 these plants would properly have come in, but as 



