172 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XX. No. 50: 



When the young leaf first makes its appearance, it is spatulate 

 in form, with a simple notch on one side near the end, ranging 

 upward at an angle of about 45 degrees. As the plant grows, 

 the sides separate, forming a tube, while the notch increases in 

 size and rotates in direction, until it becomes an ample opening 

 ranging downward at an angle of about 45 degrees. At the same 

 time the end of the spatula enlarges into a dome-shaped hood, 

 the upper lip at the opening projecting well forward and down- 

 ward over the lower. The tube is largest at the top, narrowing 

 gradually to a point a short distance above the ground. The 

 front or open side of the tube has a narrow rib, the rest of the 

 circumference being round and smooth. 



Being unable to find in botanical literature any adequate ac- 

 count of the manner in which this plant performs its remarkable 

 functions of catching and devouring insects, I was led to make 

 the study myself. Placing several of the plants in flower-pots 

 for continuous observation, dissecting numbers of others in the 

 woods almost daily, and continuing these observations during 

 several different seasons, the little pitcher has come to seem like a 

 familiar friend, and has yielded me an amount of pleasure and 

 satisfaction that would seem incredible to any but a lover of na- 

 ture. 



If one were to say that he had seen a tree which could catch 

 and eat squirrels, rabbits, field-mice, etc., he would be set down 

 as a bungling imitator of the celebrated Baron; but here is a frail 

 plant which we tread upon unnoticed, that actually captures, de- 

 vours, and digests number of animals endowed with much greater 

 activity, and doubtless with higher pdwers of perception, than 

 any mammals. 



If the plant has any odor attractive to insects it is not percepti- 

 ble to human olfactories. But when near the opening they seem 

 possessed with a desire to enter, and the way is open and easy. 

 At the edge of the opening they are seen to sip a secretion of the 

 plant, and immediately hasten on to the interior. Here some of 

 them will continue to eat ravenously until they are seized with a 

 sort of palsy, causing them to tremble violently, release their 

 hold, and fall into the liquid at the bottom of the tube. Others, 

 after entering the dome, become frightened and endeavor to es- 

 cape. And here is discovered one of the remarkable features of the 

 plant —an arrangement clearly intended to deceive the unlucky 

 prisoner. The hood projecting over the opening forms a dark 

 background, while the opjMsite side of the dome is brilliantly 

 lighted by means of more than a hundred transparent spots or 

 windows. Just as a bird which has entered a room by a dark 

 passage, beats against the window-pane, so the poor insect ex- 

 hausts his strength at the windows of his prison, and finally falls 

 exhausted — literally "in the soup." 



The bath seems to cure their palsy, for they invariably struggle 

 vigorously to escape by climbing up the side of the tube. But 

 the effort is vain. It seems remarkable that insects which walk 

 upon glass and other smooth surfaces at will can make no prog- 

 ress here. The inner surface of the tube has a wonderfully 

 smooth feel, and under the microscope is seen to be covered with 

 very fine hairs forming a nap in the downward direction. About 

 half-way up the tube there is a change in the appearance. It 

 looks as if the lower part were wet and the upper dry, but the 

 microscope shows that the appearance is caused by a different 

 arrangement of the hairs on the surface. On the upper half, 

 they appear like bundles of gi-ain with the ends well spread. The 

 purpose of this arrangement is not apparent ; but having on one 

 occasion found a larva at the half-way point, it occurred to me 

 that possibly certain species had feet able to traverse the lower 

 half, and such would be stopped by the different arrangement 

 above. However this may be, the insect which once enters this 

 doubly and trebly guarded prison "leaves hope behind." Even 

 when rescued, he seems unable to resist the temptation to taste 

 again the insidious nectar which leads him to his doom. Cut 

 away the hood, and let a blade of grass down into the tube. A 

 half-dead fly climbs eagerly out. Too weak to fly, he can be 

 handled at will. Place him on the outside of the tube, an inch 

 or more from the opening, with head turned away from danger. 

 He staggers forward a few steps, stops and considers, then like 

 the confirmed toper in front of a saloon, turns around and goes 



back for one more drink. At the first taste, he becomes crazed, 

 sips ravenously till the tremens comes on, and drops him down to 

 certain death. 



The number and variety of insects disposed of by a single plant 

 is astonishing. Every order is represented. One would think 

 that a grasshopper, large enough to reach across the tube and 

 almost close it up with his body and long legs, would have small 

 excuse for being in such a place. But there he is slowly dissolv- 

 ing. Beetles, moths, larvte of numerous kinds, including large 

 woolly caterpiUers, all go the same way. The hymenoptera are 

 represented by ants, but I have never found any species of bee, 

 though I have searched diligently for that special purpose. 



The statements of certain botanists that the pitchers are "half 

 filled with water containing^drowned insects," and that " it is dif- 

 ficult to believe that they have any connection with the economy 

 of the plant," need revising. A chemical analysis of the fluid is 

 wanting, but it is a secretion of the plant and not rain-water. 

 The construction of the plant makes it impossible for rain to en- 

 ter. Furthermore, I have seen a plant which had been cut off at 

 the root send up a new leaf, mature its pitcher, secrete its fluid, 

 and begin business, during a period in which no rain had fallen. 



In every healthy pitcher may be found insects still alive and 

 struggling; others dead ; others farther down in the mass, coarsely 

 broken up ; and at the bottom only a pulp. The fact that the elytra, 

 mandibles, and other hard parts of beetles, are dissolved with the 

 rest, shows that the plant has remarkable digestive powers. 

 Unlike animals, it has no means of rejecting unsuitable portions 

 of food. Everything goes. The front door is always open, thei'e 

 is no back door, all sorts of visitors enter, none escape, every shred 

 disappears. 



CURRENT NOTES ON ANTHROPOLOGY.— XV. 

 [Edited by D. G. Brinton, M.D., LL.D.] 

 The Antiquities of Catamarca. 



Among the mysterious civilizations of the New World which 

 were extinguished before the arrival of the Europeans, that of 

 the Province of Catamarca, in north-western Buenos Ayres, is not 

 the least diiiicult of solution. In this region, over an area about 

 four hundred miles square, the vestiges of a dense population are 

 numerous, and there are abundant proofs that there prevailed a 

 stage of culture definitely above that of the Pueblo dwellers of 

 New Mexico. The ruins of stone- built structures are abundant, 

 and are the only instances of such that we find east of the Andes 

 in the whole of South America. They begin at a height of twelve 

 to fifteen thousand feet, and continue down to the mesas and 

 plains of the lowlands. From their positions and plans most of 

 them were evidently defensive works, occupying points of van- 

 tage, and with walls three tb five feet in thickness. The en- 

 trances are concealed or sometimes none exist, ladders having 

 evidently been used by the inhabitants. They were acquainted 

 with the use of copper-, gold, and silver, made excellent pottery, 

 wove fabrics with skill, cultivated maize extensively, and buried 

 in mounds. 



An interesting but brief notice of these remains is published by 

 Francisco P. Moreno in the " Revista del Museo de La Plata,'' 

 1891. He considers the remains are anterior to the conquest of 

 the country by the Incas about 1450. This is probable, but it 

 would not militate against the evidence I have brought forward in 

 my "Studies of South American Languages," p. 54, that the na- 

 tives of Catamarca were themselves of the same blood and lan- 

 guage as the Incas. 



Central-American Languages, 



The Empress Catherine II. of Russia at one time planned pub- 

 lishing specimens of every language on the face of the globe, but 

 lost interest in her scheme, and dropped it before completion. 

 When at St. Petersburg a year ago, I inquired about the material 

 collected by her orders, but left unpublished. The Librarian of 

 the Imperial Library could give me no information about it. 



Now, part of it arrives in a publication from Costa Rica enti- 

 tled "Lenguas Indigenas de Centro-America en el Siglo XVIII. 

 MS. del Archivo de Sevilla. Publicada por R. F. Guardia y Juan 

 Fernandez Ferraz. 1893." The editors do not state, and do not 



