ZHSGUZSHS OF LEAVES 



99 



are endeavoring to form in most unu- 

 sual places. 



108a. Such strange and abnormal variations c 

 transformations as these, wherever they occur, ai 

 known as monstrosities (or monstrous forms) . Th 

 dahlia leaf (Fig. 91), is not a, monstrosity, because i 

 assumes a form which is habitual to the plant an 

 which conforms with its general structure. 



109. A pitcher plant, or spottel 

 trumpet leaf, of the South, is draw: 

 in Fig. 96. There is a similar spe 

 cies in northern bogs. The structur 

 and its position upon the plant both 

 show that it is a leaf. Here, then, 

 the leaf is a pitcher or water-holding 

 receptacle, and the mass of captured 

 insects and other animals is no doubt 

 digested and absorbed as plant-food. 



109a. It is known that certain plants absorb 

 the juices of insects which are caught in traps 

 and killed, and that others make use of the ac- 

 cumulated mass of organic matter or humus which 

 is caught in various kinds of cups or receptacles. 

 The pupil who desires to pursue this interesting 

 subject should begin by procuring Darwin's work 

 on "Insectivorous Plants." Geddes' "Chapters in 

 Modem Botany" will be useful. There is a large Leaf of pitcher 

 special literature. plant. 



Fig. 96. 



110. Let us return to the bean, Fig. 82.' Is it 

 pinnate or digitate? It is certainly digitate in form; 



