18 THE HUMAN SIDE OF PLANTS 
the taste of the voracious pitcher-plant; thus they 
not only escape being eaten, but they get revenge 
for the injury done to others! 
Of all lands where the pitcher-plants thrive, the 
island of Borneo seems to be their paradise. They 
are as plentiful in the mountains there as the wild 
morning-glory is in America; small shrubs, trees, 
and bushes are covered with their variegated and 
variously shaped pitchers. Some look like small 
trumpets, others are like dwarfed gourds; but all 
seem diabolically planned death-traps! 
Of all plants which have the insect-eating habit, 
perhaps none is more unusual than the Darling- 
tonia. It is unquestionably the most beautiful of 
the pitcher family, yet it is the least known. This 
may be accounted for by the fact that it grows 
high in the mountains, and is exceedingly rare. In 
the swampy marsh-lands of Mount Shasta, Cali- 
_ fornia, it is often found, but usually only by bot- 
anists. It closely resembles the Sarracenia; the 
pitchers are curved, and the cap extends into a 
long cover overhanging the mouth. Its leaves look 
like the tail of a beautiful bird. 
Many of the orchids—such, for instance, as the 
dainty moccasin-flower, loved of. the mountain 
children—so shape their flowers that wingless in- 
sects decoyed into them have small chance of escape. 
