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JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



primitive pitchers, and the products of their decomposition began 

 to be absorbed by the plant ; thus the 11 insectivorous " habit, with 

 its attendant modifications of structure and function, would be 

 gradually established. With Utricularia and Genlisea the case 

 is different. These are rootless plants, and consequently the 

 absorptive functions of the root have been delegated to the leaves, 

 or at least to some of them. It is not difficult to imagine how 

 that in the land-forms of Utricularia, as in Genlisea, these 

 vicarious " roots," being subterranean and absorbing water and 

 substances dissolved in it, may have incidentally acquired the 

 habit of catching animals; and, with regard to the water-forms 

 of Utricularia, they have probably inherited this habit, with its 

 accompanying peculiarities of structure, from ancestral terrestrial 

 forms. Finally, I would regard the pitchers of Lathraea and of 

 Dischidia as still primitive, meeting, as they do, primary 

 physiological needs of the plant in] connection with its water- 

 supply, and not having undergone specialisation to meet 

 the acquired need of organic nutriment obtained from captured 

 animals. 



But, as I said before, I have no intention of offering you any- 

 thing like a cut-and-dried solution of the ultimate and most in- 

 teresting problem to which the consideration of Pitcher-plants 

 has naturally led us, so I will refrain from any further discussion 

 of the suggestion which I have made. You will have gathered 

 from what 1 have said that our knowledge of the physiology of 

 Pitcher-plants is still far from complete ; much yet remains to be 

 done in the way of accumulating missing facts. But even when 

 all the facts of their physiology have been accumulated, our 

 knowledge will not be complete until we know, not only what 

 they do, but also how they have come to be what they are. 



STORING AND PRESERVING OF FRUIT. 

 By Mr. Joseph Cheal, F.R.H.S. 

 [Read June 29, 1897.] 



Next in importance to the growing of fruit is the preserving or 

 storing it in order to prolong the period of use to the greatest 

 po lible extent. It is grievous to note in a year of plenty the 

 vast quantities of fruit completely wasted for want of some simple 



