106 SARRACENIACE.E. 



infolded leaf were united by a seam, so as to leave the free edges outside. 

 In Sarraeenia this wing or margin is simple and entire. The pitchers, espe- 

 cially those of S. purpurea, are generally found partly filled with water and 

 dead Hies with other small insects. Whether the water is secreted by the 

 leaf itself, or caught from the rain, is still undetermined. The point might 

 readily be ascertained by proper observations, made especially upon S. psit- 

 tacina, the pitchers of which are so protected by the hood that the fluid they 

 contain (if any) can hardly be supposed to have entered by the orifice. 

 That the water in the open pitchers of S. purpurea is not secreted by the 

 internal hairs, as Dr. Lindley and Mr. Bentham suppose,* would appear 

 from the fact, that the younger leaves are empty, and that during the spring 

 and summer it is those of the previous season, from which these hairs (in 

 this species very long and delicate) have mostly disappeared, which alone or 

 principally are found to contain water. 



But, however derived, this water serves to drown the flies and other in- 

 sects, which these leaves are admirably adapted to catch and retain. Ac- 

 cording to Elliott and others, there is a saccharine exudation at the throat of 

 the Southern species which attracts insects ; but this is not noticeable in S. 

 purpurea. Immediately below the surface it is very smooth and polished, 

 and still lower it is beset with sharp hairs, in most species long and slender, 

 or else like those of the hood (in S. Drummondii extremely short and close), 

 but in all pointing directly downwards so as to allow insects to descend, but 

 effectually to obstruct their return. The inner surface of the hood is like- 

 wise lined with stiff and sharp retrorse bristles, which subserve a similar 

 purpose, except in S. flava, which is smooth ; but in that species this ap- 

 pendage is erect, with its sides turned away from the mouth of the tube, 

 which thus it bears no part in guarding. 



An anatomical investigation of the leaves is still a desideratum. 



The six described species of Sarraeenia are all restricted to the Atlantic 

 border of the United States, from Virginia southward ; except S. purpurea, 

 the range of which extends from Florida to Newfoundland, and northwest 

 to Ohio. 



* Bentham, in Linn. Trans. 18. p. 421*. 



