220 



ELEMENTARY STUDIES IN BOTANY 



it. Below the glazed zone is another one thickly set 

 with stiff, downward-pointing hairs; and below this is 

 the liquid in the bottom of the urn. If a fly, attracted 

 to the nectar at the rim of the urn, attempts to descend 

 within the urn, it slips on the glazed zone and falls into 

 the water; and if it attempts to escape by crawling, the 

 downward-pointing hairs prevent. If it seeks to fly from 



the rim, it naturally 

 flies towards the trans- 

 lucent spots in the hood, 

 since the direction of en- 

 trance is in the shadow ; 

 and pounding against 

 the hood, the fly usu- 

 ally falls into the tube. 

 The pitchers usually 

 contain the decaying 

 bodies of numerous 

 drowned insects. A 

 much larger Californian 

 pitcher-plant is Darling- 

 tonia,i(Fig. 187), whose 

 leaves are one and a half 

 to three feet high, the 

 hood bearing a gaudily 

 colored " fish-tail" ap- 

 pendage, the whole structure being a more elaborate in- 

 sect trap than are the leaves of Sarracenia. In these 

 traps not only are the remains of flies found, but bees, 

 hornets, butterflies, beetles, grasshoppers, and even snails 

 have been reported. The species of Nepenthes, from the 

 oriental tropics, very common in conservatories, develop 

 most remarkable leaves, the lowest part being an ordinary 

 blade, beyond which is a well-developed tendril, at the end of 

 which there arises an elaborate pitcher with a lid (Fig. 188). 



FIG. 189. Sundews. After KEENER. 



