430 



THE UNIVERSE. 



has intrusted this task to another distilHng plant, the 

 Purple Sarracenia, the structure of which is no less eccen- 

 tric. Its leaves, uniting at their edges, are transformed 

 into elegant amphorae, the narrow opening of which is sur- 

 mounted by an ample green auricle decorated with scarlet 

 red veins, to which the species owes its name. These cups, 

 presents from the empire of Flora and which rise from 





234. The Amphora-plant— .5'c«T«cc«iajJMrjjw)'ca (Linnffius). 



spot to spot at the feet of the traveller, are filled with 

 pure and delicious water, for the benefit of which he is all 

 the more grateful that he is encircled by nothing but 

 marshes, the water of which is lukewarm and nauseous. 



Generally, transpiration from the leaves only takes place 

 by their under surface. Knight demonstrated this by a 

 very simple experiment. He inclosed a vine leaf between 

 two plates of glass, and observed that only the plate in 



