A Collection of Carnivorous Plants 
A GROUP OF HYBRID SARRACKNIAS 
A FINE COI EECTION OF NEPENTHES 
specimens ot this plant are kept under a 
glass, although this is not regarded as an 
essential point of culture. One thing is 
certain, that there are few plants which will 
give more amusement than the Venus’s 
fly-trap, with its hinged leaves ever ready 
to snap up any fly which may have the mis¬ 
fortune to settle upon its foliage, d'he 
great Darwin discovered that the DiojKca 
was quite as fond of small chunks of raw 
beef as of insects, and this seems to he a more 
humane way of testing the feeding powers of 
the plant than the administration of live 
flies! 
A (juaint little insectivorous species, the 
cephalotns, is a native of Australia, only to 
be found in a certain locality of the island 
continent. I'his plant is not very commonly 
seen in cultivation although it is a most 
curious object. Very lowly in habit the 
leaves formed in the shape of most complete 
pitchers do not rise much more than an inch 
above the level of the soil. As with the 
other carnivorous species already noted the 
cephalotus is well grown in peat and sphag¬ 
num, considerable attention being given to 
insure that the drainage in the pot is quite 
free. This species is very readily increased 
by means of offshoots which should be 
taken when the plant is in an active state 
of growth. Under successful culture the 
cephalotus will flow¬ 
er, producing small 
white blooms about 
the month of May. 
Florally very at¬ 
tractive the pingiii- 
c III as or hutterworts 
are perhaps the most 
desirable of all the 
smaller insectivorous 
p 1 a n t s. In t h e s e 
species we see evi- 
tlenced a much more 
simple form of fly 
c a t c h 1 n g t h a n i n 
other carnivorous 
kinds. Fhe fleshy 
leaves are m o s 11 y 
covered with small 
glandular hairs, and 
on their surface se¬ 
crete a sticky fluid 
which catches the in¬ 
sects very much in the 
way that an ordinary 
fly paper does. 1 he 
same composition of 
8l 
