SARRACENIA VARIOLARIS. 191 



of water to keep them fresh, and opened the windows 

 to admit the various insects that are swarming in the 

 air at this season. Soon the room was well supplied 

 with the common house-fly. I now returned the screens 

 to the windows, and sat down to watch results. A num- 

 ber of flies were soon attracted, to the plants, and almost 

 as soon as they tasted the secretion they acted strangely. 

 It was astonishing to see how quickly it affected them. 

 They became stupid, and did not notice my hand in 

 close proximity, and they paid no attention to gentle 

 efforts to shake them from the leaf. If I touched one, 

 it would fly a short distance, but invariably it returned 

 to the leaf, and very soon was buzzing inside of the 

 tube, trying to walk up the dry, smooth surface, and 

 ever falling back, until it was exhausted and still. It 

 was no use to liberate them. I repeatedly took a leaf 

 and turned the opening downward, and gently knocked 

 it until I liberated half a dozen or more, but they were 

 soon on the leaves again, evidently trying to straighten 

 themselves. They would pass their legs over their 

 wings, but they were unsteady on their feet, and seem- 

 ed to be intoxicated. Every fly that I liberated event- 

 ually returned to the open mouth and walked in, as if 

 fascinated by some spell. 



In about two hours the room was cleared of flies — 

 all lured into the fatal traps. I reopened the windows 

 to admit more, and among the flies came two or three 

 yellow-jackets — wasp-like insects. These yellow-jackets 

 are very fond of anything sweet, and very soon one 



