Morphological Notes. . 367 
genus. From this the inference may be fairly drawn that 
the property of producing pitchers is rather an individual 
adaptation, than bound up with a particular generic type as it 
is apparently in Sarracenia and Nepenthes . In D. borneensis , 
Becc., and D. Collyris , Wall. ( Conchophyllum imbricatum , 
BL), the leaves are convex and therefore foreshadow the 
atavistic form described in this note. The comparison with 
Dischidia rafflesiana has not escaped Beccari, Treub, and 
Goebel. Scott and Sargant remark (1. c. 268) with much 
sagacity : { We can scarcely doubt that from some such 
leaves as those of D. Collyris, the more highly modified 
root-sheltering pitchers of Dischidia rafflesiana have been 
evolved. 1 
I think it may be fairly claimed that this anticipation has 
now been realized. The interesting question, however, arises 
as to the teleological object achieved. Carpenter, quoting 
(1. c.) from Wallich the original describe^ says * The bags 
[pitchers] generally contain a great quantity of small and 
harmless black ants, most of which find a watery grave in the 
turbid fluid which half fills the cavity, and which seems to 
be entirely derived from without.’ Carpenter continues : 
‘ Thus it would seem as if the failure of the ordinary means 
of support in this curious plant has been compensated by 
the addition of an organ which, like the stomach of animals, 
serves as a receptacle for the supplies it may occasionally 
obtain.’ These extracts are interesting because they show 
that Dischidia rafflesiana was from the beginning recognized 
as a myrmecophilous plant. This was, however, rather lost 
sight of when it was generally adduced some half century 
ago in popular physiological expositions as affording an 
analogue to an animal stomach. 
Beccari regarded the pitchers as £ galls ’ which have become 
useful as sheltering defensive insects. This was putting their 
myrmecophilous origin in the most extreme form. And it 
is clear that it cannot be sustained. Delpino’s obvious theory 
that the pitchers are carnivorous seems equally disposed of 
by the fact that their inner walls are coated with wax. 
