82 



THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



from tiny trumpets two or three inches high up to fifteen 

 inches, ah perfectly formed and colored. 



There are few plants in this country as peculiar in structure 

 and in habits as the different members of the Pitcher-plant 

 family (Sarraceniaccac) , The leaves of the species here dis- 

 cussed are erect slender tubes with a beautifully purple-veined 

 hood arched over and nearly closing the opening. On one 

 side of the leaf, opposite the opening and near the top, are 

 numerous white, translucent, spots like windows, and opposite 

 the windows, a broad wing extends from base to summit of the 

 leaf. The opening into the tube is smooth, but below this is 

 a band of stifY downward pointing hairs. A secretion of sweet 

 liquid around the opening attracts the insects and leads them 

 down over the stiff hairs. Going in this direction the hairs 

 are easy to pass, but no insect can return OA-er the bristling 

 points. 



One might think that an insect with wings could easilv flv 

 out of the trumpet and thus avoid the line of stiff hairs, but 

 the trumpet leaf is prepared for just such an emergency. The 

 mouth of the trumpet is concealed by the arching hood and in 

 seeking a way out, the insect is attracted to the translucent 

 spots, like Avell lighted windows, which seem intentionally 

 placed on the side opposite the real opening. Against these 

 spots it beats, as a bee or bird does on finding itself shut up in 

 a room, until it falls exhausted into the pit below, where along 

 with other insects that could not fly, it is eventually absorbed 

 by this vegetable trickster. I have often found a solid mass 

 of black ants and other insects, two or three inches deep, at 

 the bottom of the tube. 



The leaves of the northern pitcher plant (Sarraccjiia pur- 

 purea) are open at the top and the lip is turned away from the 

 mouth like a real pitcher, but the opening has a similar zone 

 of stiff' downward pointing hairs to prevent crawling insects 

 from leaving. Flying insects are nearly as heTple^s in the 



