8o 



REMARKABLE FLOWERS. 



[CHAP. 



FIG. 85. 



which collects the rain and dew. Sometimes as 

 much as half a pint of clear liquid may be found in 

 this natural cup, and pedestrians 

 on a warm summer day might be 

 glad to stop and take a drink from 

 this stately plant, were it not that 

 insects will persist in commit- 

 ting suicide in it- The following 

 note communicated to "Science 

 Gossip," 1879, by Mr. J. Saunders, 

 well illustrates our remark about 

 this plant. He says : " This plant 

 grows plentifully on some parts of 

 the Crumbles, Eastbourne, and 

 during the present season it has 

 illustrated in a striking manner the use of the con- 

 nate bases of its leaves. The excessive rains of 

 the month of June filled the whole of the connate 

 cups with water; and, notwithstanding the boister- 

 ous winds, the stems were sufficiently rigid to resist 

 their action to such an extent as to preserve a good 

 supply of the fluid, especially in the lowest pairs of 

 leaves. On examining them, it appeared that every 

 cup had caused the death of a goodly number of 

 the enemies of the plant, such as ants, caterpillars, 

 earwigs, and such like small deer. There were at 

 least ten or a dozen creatures drowned in the lowest 

 cup of each plant. A few were to be found in some 

 of the higher cups, and in such cases nearly all of 

 the leaves, forming the receptacles, had contact with 

 adjacent plants. The inference seemed perfectly 

 sound that the leaves were so modified as to collect 



