74 FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE. 



tube, where it is either drowned, or attempts in vain 

 to ascend against the points of the hairs. The fly- 

 seldom takes wing in its fall and escapes. In a house 

 much infested with flies this entrapment goes on so 

 rapidly that a tube is filled within a few hours, and 

 it becomes necessary to add water, the natural 

 quantity being insufficient to drown the imprisoned 

 insects. The leaves of other species might well be 

 employed as fly-catchers, indeed, I am credibly 

 informed that they are in some neighbourhoods. The 

 leaves of Sarracenia flava, although they are very 

 capacious, and often grow to a height of three feet 

 or more, are never found to contain so many insects 

 as those of other species. The cause which attracts 

 flies is evidently a sweet viscid substance resembling 

 honey, secreted by, or exuding from, the internal 

 surface of the tube. From the margin, where it com- 

 mences, it does not extend lower than one fourth of 

 an inch. The falling of the insect as soon as it enters 

 the tube is wholly attributable to the downward or 

 inverted position of the hairs of the internal surface of 

 the leaf. At the bottom of a tube, split open, the 

 hairs are plainly discernible pointing downwards ; 

 as the eye ranges upward they gradually become 

 shorter and attenuated, till at, or just below the 

 surface, covered by the bait, they are no longer per- 

 ceptible to the naked eye, nor to the most delicate 

 touch. It is here that the fly cannot take a hold 



