246 Scott and Sargant. — On the Pitchers of 
pitchers as galls which have become hereditary and which may 
be useful to the plant as sheltering defensive insects, and that 
of Delpino who attributes to the pitchers a carnivorous 
function. Treub’s own view is that the pitchers serve to 
collect rain-water, and to economize the watery vapour given 
off in transpiration ; the detritus which he sometimes found 
in the pitchers may also serve as a supply of food. The roots 
he regards as serving for the absorption of the water, and 
possibly other substances contained in the pitchers. The walls 
of the pitchers are coated with wax, and are probably quite 
incapable of absorption. 
Since Treub’s paper appeared, the most important work 
published on Dischidia has been that of Beccari 1 . He 
maintains his former views, and after summing up the various 
possible functions which may be attributed to the pitchers, 
comes to the conclusion that they serve mainly as ant-shelters. 
He also found numbers of Acari on a very young pitcher, and 
suggests that they may regularly visit the pitchers at a very 
early stage, deposit eggs there, and thus excite the charac- 
teristic development of the organ. Beccari’s view may be 
referred to shortly as the myrmecophilous theory. He 
considers the glandular processes found on young leaves and 
pitchers as ‘ food-bodies ’ comparable with those of Acacia 
cornigera , and suggests that they help to attract ants which 
effect fertilization. 
Delpino has published a recent paper in which he further 
supports the view that the plant is carnivorous, the pitchers 
serving to catch insects, which are drowned, and then help 
to nourish the plant. He appears to rely on the form of the 
pitcher, which according to him is well-adapted to catch insects, 
but to this idea there is the evident objection, already made 
by Treub, that the roots afford a most convenient mode of 
escape to any insects which might happen to find their way 
into the pitchers 2 . 
1 loc. cit., Malesia, vol. ii. 
2 Delpino, Malpighia, vol. iv. 1890, pp. 13-17- 
