THE COAOrON TEASEL AS A CAItNIVOItOUS PLANT 
39 
whole of his property for the luxury of a draught from one of these 
water-lodging plants,” adding that “ this curious structure would 
appear to be rather destructive than preservative of animal life, for 
in the basins formed by these connate leaves many insects are 
drowned; so that Dipsacus may rank among the vegetable llicsci- 
capce .” 
As to the particular small animals usually found putrefying in the 
cups: examination shows that they are not only very numerous 
individually, but that they belong to a great variety of widely- 
differing species and even classes # , but usually in such an advanced 
stage of decomposition that they are difficult to identify. My own 
observations show that the majority are Insects, chiefly flies (l)iptera) 
of many kinds—blue-bottle, green-bottle, large horse, and numerous 
others. Beetles, too, of many species (Coleoptera), are frequent. 
Less common, but still often met with, are lady-birds, plant-lice, 
spiders, earwigs, caterpillars, moths, and butterflies—even such large 
species as the Cabbage White ( Pieris brassicce ). Mollusca, too, are 
not infrequent. I have identified the slug Limax acjrestis several 
times. Further, at Grays Thurrock, on the occasion referred to above 
(that is, during the great drought), I found dead in the cups a con¬ 
siderable number of Helix hispida (or its var. concinna ) and at least 
a dozen H. cantiana. The latter is a surprisingly large and heavy 
creature to be captured by any carnivorous plant; for the adult 
animal weighs about 75 eg. On a later occasion, also during the 
great drought, I found several adult living individuals of II. aspersa 
sheltering in the empty cups, which they had entered, no doubt, for 
the sake of the slight moisture (scarcely more than dampness) 
remaining in their bottoms : but these had not been “ captured ” by 
the plant. 
Sir Francis Darwin records (Z. c.) that he found the following 
in the cups of some wild Teasels:—“ In one cup, six large malacoderm 
beetles, from half to three-quarters of an inch in length, one fair¬ 
sized caterpillar, and two flies; in another [cup], seven of the same 
beetles, one earwig, a blue-bottle fly, besides many smaller flies and 
much debris. A much larger number of insects were counted in 
some other teasel-cups, but the notes were lost.” 
Sir Francis also met with some “large slugs” (? Umax arborum , 
L. jlavum , or Avion ater ) in the liquor. The occurrence of these 
is surprising; for they are much larger and heavier animals than 
even Helix cantiana , and one would have thought that they, above all 
other crawling creatures, would have been stopped in their ascent 
of the stem by the many sharp, downward-pointing, thorn-like 
prickles. As these prickles would hardly serve to stop smaller 
creatures, such as ants (which could easily pass between them), and are 
not stiff enough to keep off large browsing animals, they appear 
functionless. Yet the} 7 are so numerous and form so striking a 
feature of the plant that one can scarcely regard them as vestigial 
merely. 
* So many of the creatures found in the cups are not true insects that I 
prefer to speak of the Teasel as a “ carnivorous,” rather than an “ insectivorous,” 
plant. 
