THE LEAF | 191 
becomes the aggressor, and instead of standing on the defen- 
sive or suffering itself to be quietly devoured, proceeds to 
capture and devour small game on its own account, and in 
this case, the leaf sometimes becomes a deadly weapon of 
destruction. 
209. Pitcher plants.— The sarracenia, or trumpet leaf, 
is a familiar example of this class. The lower part of the 
leaf blade is transformed -— 
into a hollow vessel for 
holding water, and the 
top.is rounded into a 
broad flap called the 
lamina. Sometimes the 
lamina stands erect, as 
in the common yellow 
trumpets of our coast 
regions, and when this is 
the case, it is brilliantly 
colored and attracts in- 
sects (Fig. 259). Some- 
times, as in the parrot- 
beaked and the spotted 
trumpet leaf, it is bent [44 Mil lef lan 
over the top of the water Fic. 259. — Yellow trumpets (Sarracenia flora). 
vessel like a lid, and the (From the Mo. Botanical Garden Rep’t.) 
back of the leaf, near the foot of the lamina, is dotted with 
transparent specks that serve to decoy foolish flies away 
from the true opening and tempt them to wear themselves 
out in futile efforts to escape, as we often see them do against 
a window pane. 
If the contents of one of these leaves are examined with a 
lens, there will generally be found mixed with the water at the 
bottom the remains of the bodies of a large number of in- 
sects. The hairs on the outside all point up, toward the 
rim of the pitcher, while those on the inside turn down, 
thus smoothing the way to destruction, but making return 
