THE PITCHER PLANT 
9 
plants draw sustenance from many insects enticed 
into the Pitchers by their honeyed lips* Once inside, 
the venturesome invader is doomed, for the throat 
is armed with a formidable coating of sharp spines, 
pointing downward* These facilitate the descent, 
but make return to the open air impossible* The 
struggling victim, in his futile efforts, is caught on 
one of the sharp spines and thrown into the water, 
where he speedily succumbs, nourishing the plant 
that enticed him to his fate* 
The water in the Pitchers has a digestive effect, 
and the plant draws nutriment from the insects 
dissolved in it* But the resources of the insect world 
are infinite, and some diminutive visitors contrive 
to make of the threatening death-trap a comfortable 
dwelling* When a mass of undigested wings, legs, 
and armour plates of the invading insects accumulates 
in the bottom of a Pitcher an enterprising fly of the 
genus Sarcophaga finds in the refuse a suitable 
habitation for her coming brood* She enters without 
any trouble, deposits her eggs, and, by a strange 
dexterity, makes her escape again* When her young 
brood hatch out, the larvae feed on the accumulated 
remains, and in due time make their escape, regardless 
of the barbs that threaten to impale them* 
These sojourners are harmless and perhaps 
beneficial to the plant, but another tenant, a small 
moth, lives at the expense of her habitation* She goes 
