10 
THE PITCHER PLANT 
in and out without the least difficulty and lays her 
eggs on the inside of the open lip, in free defiance of 
its array of concealed weapons* When the young 
larvae come out they feed on the inner lining of their 
Pitcher, working around with a delicacy and care 
that suggests a knowledge of their imminent danger* 
They eat away a ring of the inner surface, clearing 
off the dangerous spines that would throw them down 
into the water, and all the time spinning a carpet of 
silk to afford themselves a secure footing* After a 
while the weakened lip shrivels and collapses, thus 
making a comfortable habitation in which the young 
moths sleep through the pupa stage of their existence* 
They then emerge from the shrunken covering to seek 
in other Pitchers a home for the next generation* 
There is also an insect of the Hymenoptera order 
that makes a home in this charnel-house of her 
relatives* This enticing death-trap is found to be 
hospitable to at least three visitors from the insect 
world* Perhaps it is this natural blending of what 
we call good and what we call evil that awakens the 
deep human interest in the cluster of curved, open 
Pitchers nestling in the moss and trailing a few 
roots down to the unseen water* 
