290 Pitcher Plants. [March, 
conclusively that the honey of the lure possesses no intoxicating 
qualities, and that it is owing to the peculiar pubescence on the 
inside of the tube which prevents the insect from making its way 
out by crawling. l 
For instance, some of the tubes were split open their whole — 
length and smeared with the honey. Then they were placed flat 
on the table, and a fly which had been smeared with the secretion 
so it could not fly, was placed upon the pubescent part of the 
tube. Mark the result: “The fly immediately made an effort to 
advance, but to my great surprise its most vigorous and persistent 
efforts availed nothing, as it slowly but steadily retrograded tothe — 
lower extremity of the tube! The experiment was repeated fre | 
quently, but always with the same result. It was as ifa boat with 
insufficient propulsive power were steadily drifted back by a strong | 
tide, only in this instance the tide seemed to be the polished 4 
retrorse hairs, made still more slippery by the fluid, with which 1 
also the insect was covered.” : 
But while the large majority of the insects which are found in | 
the pitchers of S. variolaris are there to die, there are two, a moth 
and a fly which live there almost altcgether. These have some 
peculiar modification of the hairs on the legs which enable them — 
to surmount the peculiarly pubescent surface. These insects aft — 
of course, there only for the purpose of rearing their young, for 2 
they deposit their eggs, and the larvz of one feeds on the deca a 
matter in the pitcher, and of the other upon the tissues of the leaf 
itself. aa 
We have seen in the contrivances of these four species of Sarra- s 
cenia a great diversity in order to secure the same end. That end 4 
will be evident with but little consideration. It must be for thè 
nutriment of the plant insome way. When we study the veal . 
fly-trap, or the sun dew, we know that there is some pes 
derived from the insect prey they capture. When we see the many 
marvelous contrivances in the flowers of the orchids, machi 
arranged for the sole purpose of producing seed, we do not! 
moment consider it chance, but know there is an adaptati r 
means to an end. And so, when we find in the pitchers of 
species of this genus, such obvious traps for insects, we ma 
assured that they are for some use, They can only be to 
transmitted through the cells at the base of the leaf, or else Wy 
