272 BOTANT. 



by it. After a time a leaf which has caught and digested 

 an insect opens again and is ready for another. In this 

 connection the student may profitably read Mr. Darwin's 

 interesting book, " Insectivorous Plants," published in 1875. 

 648. A quite different class of insect-catching plants is 



Fig. 149.— Common Pitcher-plant (Sarracenia purpurea), showing leaves and 

 flower; one leaf cut across so as to show the cavity. Half natural size. 



represented by the Pitcher-plants of various kinds. In the 

 Common Pitcher-plant, which grows in marshes in the 

 Northern and Eastern United States, the leaves are dilated 

 into tubular or pitcher-shaped cavities (Fig. 149), contain- 

 ing a watery fluid. The upper part of the leaf is reddish 



