, 
1877.] Botany. 433 
leaves during the hour I watched them, and certainly not one fell, nor 
was there any indication at any time of either stupor or intoxication. 
These experiments I repeated in the same way on the 25th (but later 
in the day) and as carefully as on the previous occasion, and with 
precisely the same results; also on the next morning (26th) with plants 
which had been collected the day before, and these seemed to secrete 
still more freely. I ask, therefore, if flies and other insects are indeed 
intoxicated from eating the honey when they are within the tube, why 
should not the same intoxication result when the tubes are opened and 
flattened out? I conclude then (as I did before) that it is only the 
peculiar conformation of the leaf in its overhanging hood and internal 
slippery surface which entraps and finally destroys insects, and that the 
sweet exudation is only a lure, and not intoxicating in any way! I may 
remark that after flies and other insects slip and stumble, if they were 
indeed intoxicated or stupefied, it seems likely that they would remain 
at the lower portion of the leaf, and that their motions would be feeble 
and sluggish. On the contrary their efforts for escape are most active 
_ and vigorous, the flies flying and buzzing continually, and other insects 
incessantly climbing and falling back! It is only after being exhausted 
by their efforts that they eventually get slimed by the liquid at the base 
of the leaf, and stupor then overtakes them. ` 
I have seen ants, and occasionally flies also, fall immediately as they 
entered the leaves before they could have eaten honey. 
I remark further, that if this sweet internal secretion be stupefying, 
that outside on the wing (the “ trail”) must be equally so, and there- 
fore insects ought to be found at the base of the leaves on the ground 7 
I have never myself seen such, nor have I ever heard of any other per- 
Sons observing dead or intoxicated insects outside! — J. H. MELLI- 
CHAMP, Bluffton, N. C. 
Dr. Mellichamp sent, shortly after this communication, two phials of 
the fluid found at the bottom of the Sarracenia tubes. The bottle marked 
number one contained fluid collected in 1874; it was clear and without 
much sediment. It was neutral in reaction. ‘The fluid in the other bot- 
tle (number two) was collected partly from the still unopened leaves, at 
a time when “no rain had fallen for near two weeks.” This fluid was 
turbid, had very little if any taste, and was slightly acid in reaction. 
Experiments by Mr. B. M. Watson and Mr. Hancox in our Botanical Lab- 
oratory confirmed, in the main, the following interesting statement by 
Dr. Mellichamp : “ Pour out a teaspoonful or two of the fluid in an ounce 
Measure, or a small wine-glass. Throw in a fly so that his wings will be 
Wet or slimed. He will in a few minutes cease to struggle and will ap- — 
Pear as if dead. Take him out after a while and let him dry, and in 
about half an hour he will revive.” Number one proved to be nearly or 
quite inert. Number two was very active. The detailed results of Mr. 
Watson’s experiments, which are still in progress, may be published in 
_ the August NATURALIST. 
VOL, XI, — No. 7. 
