22 



J. M. Macfarlane. — Nepenthaceae. 



simultaneously set free. He considered that this ferment converted insoluble proteids 

 into dissolved peptones, and so that it was referable to the pepsin series of ferments. 

 From more extended comparative Observation s Vines concluded that it has the power 

 not merely to peptonize, but further to Proteolyse. The disintegration or katabolism 

 of proteids is thus effected not merely to the peptone stage, but further to that which 

 vields the tryptophan produets of decomposition. As in the case of Drosera and 

 Dionaea, mechanical or chemical irritation of the thin-walled gland cells, causes the 

 aggregation substance of each cell to ball up speedily. According to Vines' experi- 

 ments, when the temperature is sufficiently high, rapid digestion within two to eight 

 hours is effected, while at lower temperatures as those at which Clautriau carried 

 on his experiments in Java, digestion is slower. 



Floral Structure (Blütenverhältnisse). The inflorescences of Nepenthes seem 

 always to be oppositifoliar, and each accordingly is the direct termination of an axis. 



Fig. 9. Nepenthes villosa Hook. f. A Extremity of axis. B l Leaf with pitcher or aseidium in 



front view. Iß Aseidium in side view. G $ Inflorescence. D <3 Flower. E Q Inflorescence. 



F Q Flower. Q Fruit. (After Hooker f.) 



The opposed bract leaf is sessile in nearly every instance, even though the foliage 

 leaves may have long stalks, but it is usually equal or little inferior in size to them 

 in its lamina, while in general outline they are nearly alike. But in N. ventricosa the 

 bract leaf is typically oval, while the foliage leaves are linear or linear-lanceolate. The 

 bract differs also from the foliage leaf in its venation. Thus instead of showing 2 — J5 

 pairs of longitudinal veins, each bract is irregularly and closely reticulated by a series 



