198 HOME STUDIES IN NATURE. 



are no longer wedged in, and these try to climb the 

 smooth surface, but, as far as I have observed, not one 

 has ever succeeded. 



It is not only house-flies on which the secretion acts, 

 but all insects which I have noticed are affected by it. 

 A large cockroach was feeding on the secretion of a 

 fresh leaf which had caught little or no prey. After 

 feeding a short time it went down into the tube so 

 tight that I could not dislodge it, even when turning 

 the leaf upside down and knocking it quite hard. It 

 was late in the evening when I observed it enter ; the 

 next morning I cut the tube open ; the cockroach was 

 still alive, but it was covered with a secretion produced 

 from the inner surface of the tube, and its legs fell off 

 as I extricated it. From all appearance, the terrible 

 Sarracenia was eating its victim alive. And yet, per- 

 haps I should not say " terrible," for the plant seems 

 to supply its victims with a Lethe-like draught before 

 devouring them. 



From the position in which the insects are placed 

 after being made prisoners, it is impossible to see how * 

 much secretion they cause. In the case of pinguicula 

 this is easily seen. On cutting the tube of Sarracenia 

 open, we find a secretion very different frOm the sweet 

 secretion in the cord, and tins secretion, produced from 

 the inner surface of the tube, seems to act on the flies 

 in the same way as that produced by pinguicula. 



As further evidence of the intoxicating power of the 

 sweet secretion of Sarracenia, I must add the fact of a 



