NEPENTHES. 



349 



916. The exact nature of the liquid in the pitchers is not fully 

 understood. Mellicharnp's observations seem to indicate that 

 it has the power of accelerating the decomposition of animal 

 matter. Nothing is yet known positively as to the manner in 

 which the products of decomposition are utilized by the plant, 

 if, indeed, they are at all serviceable to it. 1 



917. Darliiigtonia has been examined 

 by Canby, who finds strong indications 

 that it allures insects much as the Sarra- 

 cenias do. 



918. Nepenthes. This striking plant has 



long been a favor- 

 ite in the green- 

 house on account 

 of its peculiar 

 leaves, which often combine 

 a blade, a tendril, and a well- 

 formed urn. The species of 

 Nepenthes (about thirty in 

 number) produce pitchers at 

 the extremity of their tendril- 

 like leaves. When the plants 

 are young these pitchers are 

 less elongated and are apt to 

 rest on the ground, and in 

 such plants their whole inte- 

 rior is clothed with secreting glands. 

 When the plant is older, the pitchers 

 become more distinctly tubular, and do 

 not possess such conspicuous wings as those found in the form 

 just mentioned. All of them have lids ; in one case the lid is 



1 It is interesting to observe some of the early conjectures as to the probable 

 use of these pitchers. " Morrison speaks of the lid, which in all the species is 

 tolerably rigidly fixed, as being furnished by Providence with a hinge. This 

 idea was adopted by Linnaeus, and somewhat amplified by succeeding writers, 

 who declared that in dry weather the lid closed over the mouth and checked 

 the loss of water by evaporation. Catesby, in his fine work on the ' Natural 

 History of Carolina,' supposed that these water-receptacles might ' serve as an 

 asylum or secure retreat for numerous insects, from frogs and other animals 

 which feed on them ;' and others followed Linnreus in regarding the pitchers 

 as reservoirs for birds and other animals, more especially in times of drought " 

 (Hooker's Address before British Association, 1874). But Burnett regarded 

 the tubes as closely analogous to the stomachs of animals. 



Fia. 161. Pitcher of Darlingtonia Califoniica. 



FIG. 162. Leaf of Nepenthes; leaf, tendril, and pitcher combined. 



