366 Morphological Notes. 
extremely instructive. Such deviations from specific stability 
are usually the result of seminal reproduction. In the case 
I am about to describe it is purely vegetative and therefore 
of even greater theoretical interest. 
The structure of the pitcher in Dischidia rafflesiana is well 
known. Characteristic examples grown at Kew are shown 
on Plate XIV. As demonstrated by Treub, it is ‘a modified 
leaf in which the inner surface corresponds to the lower 
surface of the normal foliage leaf’ (Scott, 1 . c. 345). Lindley 
( 1 . c.) had erroneously conjectured that the pitchers were 
‘ leaves, the margins of which are united.’ This view was 
conclusively disposed of by Treub. And it is important 
to observe that normally the form of the future pitcher is, 
as it were, laid down from the first and there is no indication 
of any passage from the form of the normal foliar leaf to that 
of the pitcher. Such intermediate stages have, however, 
made their appearance after some ten years’ cultivation in the 
Kew plants. A portion of one of these bearing both normal 
and transitional forms is shown on Plate XIV. Another 
shoot is represented on PL XV ; Fig. 1, showing the under, and 
F'ig. 3 the upper side. These indicate a complete transition 
from the ordinary leaf by an increasing concavity of its under 
surface to a pitcher, which however still differs, in its open 
mouth, uninflexed margins and small size, from the fully 
developed organ. It can hardly be doubted that these indi- 
cate the path by which the latter has been arrived at from 
the ordinary leaf. I can find no trace of anything of the 
kind having been observed in nature unless the ‘ partly 
abortive pitcher,’ figured by Griffith in the Transactions of 
the Linnean Society, xx, t. 17, f. 3, be susceptible of this 
explanation. 
As suggested by Sir Joseph Hooker (Flora of British India, 
iv, 49 ) ‘ the species of Dischidia all want careful study.’ 
But as far as our knowledge extends, from a comparatively 
copious supply of herbarium material, supplemented by the 
observation of several species under cultivation, the produc- 
tion of pitchers is only characteristic of a small part of the 
