18 



PAPAVERACE.E. Darlinytouiu. 



leaves; these tubular, gradually enlarging upwards to a vaulted ventricose hood, 

 which terminates in a 2-lorked dertexed appendage under which is the contracted 

 rounded oritice, the ventral edge winged : scape bearing several membranous scaly 

 bracts, the upper ones crowded near the nodding purplish lluwer. — Sn)ithsoniaii 

 Contrib. vi. -i, t. 1, & liot. Wilkes Exped. 221. 



Mountnin swamps and Iwulcrs of brooks, at 1,000 to 0,000 feet, from Truckeo Pass to the 

 borders of Oregon ; fu-st collected near ilount Shasta, by /r. B. Bruckcnndge of the Wilkes 

 Exploring Expedition i>arty, with fohage and vestiges of fruit, and next in blossom by Dr. G. 

 IF. Hulse. The "pitchers" are 18 to 84 inches high, and an iuch^or less in diameter, except 

 near the top, tai>cring downward, ami spirally twisted about half a revolution, the twist being 

 most often to the left. Exj)aniling near the summit it is vaulted into an inllated sac or hood 2 

 to 4 inches across, with a cux-ular oi>cning an inch or less in diameter on tho luuler side. The 

 dome of this hood is spotted with large thin translucent urcolie, which arc uaunlly colored Honio- 

 what orange or yellow. A wing '-' to -1 lines wide runs along the inner side of the pitcher, clasp- 

 ing tho rootstock below and entering the oriiico above. At the uj)per and outer cmIl'c of the orifice, 

 a blade or appendage arises which is narrow at its base, but rapidly widens and divides into two 

 equal and divergent lobes. It is something like a fish-tail in shape, spreading 3 or 4 inches, 

 pointing downward, and beset with short and sharj) stiff hairs, all pointing toward the orifice, 

 the lobes twistod outwanl about half a revolution. The green of this blade is variously blotched 

 with red and yellow. The interior of the pitcher is polished above, but the lower jiart is beset 

 with stiff sharp slender tiansparent hairs jjointing downwards at a sharp angle. Within and 

 about the orifice and on the colored "fish-tail" there is a sweet seeretion very attractive to 

 insects. A line of this honey has sometimes been found to extend along the wing from the orifice 

 down to the ground. The base of the pitcher contains a clear secreted licjuid. This whole con- 



trivance constitutes one of the most c\uious natural fly-trans known. An insect roaming over the 



"to tlie orifice, and a line of honey enticing 

 him that way. The bladc"at the opposite "side is mottled and gayly colored to catch the eye and 



outside soon finds the wing like a fence to guide him "to tlie orifice, and a line of honey enticin, 



fancy of the flying insect. The lobes are so twisted that he may alight on the outside and by 

 travelling along the blade find himself within. It is a broad and open road at first, curving and 

 naiTowing as the two lobes converge, and leading directly into the orifice. Moreover, the sharp 

 bristles in the path all pointing one way make that the natural direction to travel, and the honey 

 sweetens the path where the dangerous opening yawns above the narrowed w-ay. The "honey 

 pastures " just within the orifice now tempt him, and are next visited. When satiated and he 

 would leave, the tran.slucciit arcohe above, like numerous lighted windows in the roof, entice 

 him away from tho darker door in the floor by which ho entered. Tlio captive sees no way of 

 escape, and from the .shape of tho lutcher and the needle-like hairs poinliiif' ever downwards, his 

 destruction is sure. Hy this (dabomte contrivai;co ho was first attracted to the plant, then enticed 

 within, then imprisoned and ultimately consigned to the hike in the bottom of tho pit. From 

 the experiments of Dr. Hooker, and from some interesting homologies, it is not difficult to believe 

 that this liquid digests the insect for the nourishment of the plant. The fragmentary remains of 

 dead insects in great variety are always found in the mature healthy leaves, often filling the tube 

 to the height of several inches and tainting the air with their decay. From the observations of 

 the entomologist Edwards, it seems that more species of flies are caught than of other insects. 

 But bees, hornets, butterflies, dragon-flies, beetles, grasshoppers, &c., and even snails are entrapped. 

 For fuller details of the behavior of this "insectivorous plant," see Proc. Am. Assoc. 1874, H, 

 64, and Proc. Calif. Acad. 1875. The secretion upon the edge of the wing was detected by Mrs. 

 n. M. Auslin, of Butterfly Valley. 



The plant is gregarious, and the hoods and blades are strikingly conspicuous when seen in the 

 bright sunshine of their places-of growth, strongly suggesting tho unromantic name Cul/'s Head, 

 by which the local mountaineers know it. 



Order V. PAPAVERACEiEJ. 



Ilevbiiceous plants, in one instance shrubby, ustudly Avith inilky or orange-yellow 

 juice, of narcotic or also acrid properties; tho llowers perfect, with sepals, petals, 

 and stamens hypogynous and not in lives ; the former 2 or 3 and caducous (falling 

 when tlie corolla opens) ; the petals twice as many, in two sets, and early decidu- 

 ous ; the stamens indefinite ; the pistil with a 1-celled ovary with parietal placentae, 

 in fruit capsular ; the seeds numerous or several, anatropous, with a minute embryo 

 in copious albumen. — Leaves mostly alternate, destitute of stipules. Peduncles 



