SARRACENIA VARIOLARIS. 201 



away. But at last I have come off conqueror. I have 

 found his weakness — his love for the intoxicating bev- 

 erage of Sarracenia. After he has partaken of this se- 

 cretion, in a few moments he is usually very docile, his 

 long antennae sway back and forth, and he pays little or 

 no attention to my movements ; but occasionally a very 

 large one will act perfectly wild after partaking of the 

 beverage ; it will suddenly dart from the plant and 

 rush round and round the room, apparently without 

 any end or aim in view. It seems to be in a regular 

 drunken frolic. ' After a while it becomes quiet, and 

 then is easily captured. I have just taken such a one 

 and measured it. From the tip of its antenna to the 

 end of its wings, which extend slightly beyond the 

 body, it measured four inches in length. Its body is 

 about two inches long. I shut it in a box overnight. 

 In the morning it could move its legs and antennas 

 very slightly, but it did not recover after being taken 

 from the box. 



During the two months of my observations of the 

 plant I have seen a large number of insects, both in 

 the field and house, made intoxicated by this secre- 

 tion on the outer edge of the wing, and I have seen 

 insects belonging to every order caught after eating 

 the secretion. 



That the plant can digest a limited amount of food 

 before it becomes putrid, I have verified by repeated 

 experiments with fresh raw beef. I took young leaves 

 before they had caught any prey, and inserted bits of 



