CAPACITY FOB HOLDING WATER. 267 



and numerous larvae of mosquitoes and other gnats. The 

 cups near the ground frequently contain living larvae of 

 dipterous insects ; while the young and elevated cups 

 are free from them, and contain pure limpid water. The 

 appearance of these beautiful and delicately-formed vege- 

 table vases is extremely interesting and singular as they 

 hang suspended by their fragile handles, offering a cooling 

 draft to the different animals that frequent the neigh- 

 bourhood. By pouring the water of several dozens of 

 pitchers into one of large size, I have several times suc- 

 ceeded in quenching my thirst with a good half-pint. 

 Many of the full-sized cups will hold considerably more 

 than a pint. 



In an account of Balambangan, by Lieut. James Barton 

 (' Oriental Repertory/ vol. ii.) there is a very amusing 

 statement respecting this plant. He observes, "The 

 northern part is over-run with various species of the Ne- 

 penthes ; but whether the abundance of water is derived 

 from thence, or whether they be the consequence of the 

 abundance of water, must be left to the decision of 

 naturalists ! some caution ", he adds, " may be prudent 

 in rooting them up, lest the former should be the case." 

 Many other plants are furnished with pitcher-shaped 

 leaves besides the Nepenthes, as the Cephalotus, of New 

 Holland, the Sarracenias, or Side-saddle flowers, and 

 the Dischidia Rafflesiana, which I have found growing in 

 the forests of Celebes, climbing about the trees, with its 

 singular leathery pitchers partly filled with a limpid fluid, 

 and surrounded with fibrous roots. In the ' Oriental 

 Repertory ' (vol. ii.) a kind of cane, called " Tugal " by 

 the natives of the Sooloo Islands, is alluded to, which 



