BOTANY. | 685 
the base ; thence decreasing in size until from about the middle to 
. the mouth they are so short, dense, and compact, that they form a 
decurved pubescence which is perfectly smooth and velvety to the 
touch, especially as the finger passes downward. Under the hood 
again, many of them become large and coarse. Running up the 
front of the trumpet is a broad wing with an emarginate border, 
parting at the top and extending around the rim of the pitcher. 
Along this border, but especially for a short distance inside the 
mouth, and less conspicuously inside the lid, there exude drops of 
= A sweetened, viscid fluid, which, as the leaf matures, is replaced 
_ byawhite, papery, tasteless, or but slightly sweetened sediment 
or efflorescence; while at the smooth bottom of the pitcher is 
secreted a limpid fluid possessing toxic or inebriating qualities. 
The insects which meet their death in this fluid are numerous, 
and of all orders. Ants are the principal victims, and the acidu- 
lous properties which their decomposing bodies give to the liquid 
_ doubtless render it all the more potent as a solvent. Scarcely 
any other Hymenoptera are found in the rotting mass, and it is an 
interesting fact that Dr. Mellichamp never found the little nectar- 
loving bee or other Mellifera about the plants. On one occasion 
only have I found in the pitcher the recognizable remains of a 
Bombus, and on one occasion only has he found the honey bee 
captured. Species belonging to all the other orders are captured, 
and among the larger species I have found katydids, locusts, 
crickets, cockroaches, flies, moths, and even butterflies in a more 
ed less irrecognizable condition. 
Two species are proof against the siren influences of the de- 
_ Stroyer, and in: turn oblige it, either directly or indirectly, to 
‘Support them. The first is Xanthoptera semicrocea Guen., a little 
glossy moth which may be popularly called the Sarracenia moth. — 
It Walks with perfect impunity over the inner surface of the 
Pitcher, and is frequently found in pairs within the pitchers soon 
: after these open in the early part of the season, or about the end 
f April. The female lays her eggs singly near the mouth of the 
her, and the young larva from the moment of hatching spins 
itself a carpet of silk, and very soon closes up the mouth by 
“tawing the rim together with a delicate gossamer-like web, which 
 “ffectually debars all small outside intruders. It then begins fret- 
ting under the hood, feeding downward on the cellular tissue and 
teayir -only the epidermis, and by the time the worm has attained 
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