INSECT -EATING PLANTS. 



143 



S. Wilsonii. — A hybrid between S. purpurea and S. flava. 



It is quite certain that all these plants have specially pro- 

 vided apparatus for insect-catching, with a view to the nourish- 

 ment afforded to the plant by the absorption of the decomposed 

 juices of the decaying animal — or rather insect-matter ; but I 

 do not consider the support thus naturally obtained in a wild 

 state is equal to that which may be afforded through the roots 

 alone by intelligent cultivation and the use of artificial manure. 

 And, moreover, I have observed that the plants which catch 

 the greatest number of insects sooner get disfigured by decay 

 and other causes than those which are carefully kept from 

 exercising their fly-catching propensities. 



THE FUCHSIA : ITS HISTOEY AND CULTIVATION. 



By Mr. Geoege Fey. 



[Read August 9, 1892.] 



The first species of this charming genus was discovered and 

 introduced to this country upwards of a century ago from Chili. 

 It is said to have been brought by a sailor, who must have had a 

 taste for flowers as well as a regard for those whom he had left 

 behind in his native land. 



In a paper read at a meeting of the Clapham Gardeners' 

 Society in 1846, by Mr. E. F. Fairbairn, it is said that the sailor 

 gave the plant to his mother, who resided in the locality of Lime- 

 house, and that it was placed in her window. Here it attracted 

 the notice of a gentleman who was riding past, and who a few 

 days after had occasion to visit Messrs. Lee's nursery at Ham- 

 mersmith, where, after viewing the thousands of plants in that 

 establishment, he told Mr. Lee he had seen a much more beauti- 

 ful plant in an old woman's window than any he had seen in his 

 nursery. Mr. Lee thought the gentleman had over-estimated 

 the beauty of the plant when he pronounced it to excel all he 

 had seen ; but when he told him that it was a dwarf bushy plant 

 loaded with crimson flowers exactly the shape of ladies' ear-rings* 

 Mr. Lee began to think it was some novelty, and inquired 

 exactly where he had seen it. After the departure of the gentle- 



