OTHER METHODS OF OBTAINING FOOD 195 
are marsh plants having their leaves arranged in rosettes, 
which spring apparently from the surface of the soil, and 
from the centre of which arises a single Hower-stalk. Hach 
leaf is modified to form a curious pitcher-like body (fig. 98), 
furnished with a kind of hd. 
The pitchers are generally con- 
spicuously coloured, while the lid, 
which is the lamina of the leaf, 
often bears hairs which secrete 
honey to attract the prey. 
The inner surface of the pitchers 
is lined with shppery recurved hairs 
which make if impossible for an 
insect to clinb out of it after once 
entering. Insects are attracted by 
the honey, and, venturing upon 
these hairs, slip down to the bottom 
ot the pitcher, from which escape 
isunpossible. The pitcher contains 
wu quantity of water, due perhaps to 
the entrance of ram, or possibly 
secreted to some extent by the 
surface of the pitcher. The insects 
become drowned in this liquid and 
undergo decomposition. Frequently 
aw pitcher will contain so many that 
the products of their putrefaction 
| 
are offensive. They are absorbed Fig. 93.—L@ar or Sarracenia, 
by the cells of the inner surface. ee Gates Weenies) 
Certain other — pitcher-plants 
show a still further advance in their method of obtaining 
protein supplies. ‘They possess similar means of attracting 
insects and alluring them to their death, but they do not 
depend on the slow process of putrefaction for the decom- 
position of their prey. Instead of this, they secrete and 
pour out a definite digestive fluid possessing properties like 
those of the secretions of the stomach and pancreas of 
1B 
