Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1874-09-18

the Dr0SerG, or SundeW, are not the only
members of the vegetable kingdom man.
ifesting unnatural, bloodthirsty Instincts
The Pitcher plants are able to the same
strange accusation. One family of these
curious insect-eaters, the SGTrdcepSdceCg,
lives among the boys of North America,
with the exception of single stray
species, the HeEGGnal)1t0rG 7oatt0us, which
dwells amid the mountains Of Guiana.
The family is small, including but three
genera and less than half-score species.
In it's early development the outer edges
of the leaf of the Sarraceniads grow to-
gether, forming a complete tube or vase,
more or less trumpet-shaped according
to the species. On the inside of the
tube, from the mouth nearly to the base,
there is growth of short, stiff, retrorse
hairs, which are velvety to the touch
rubbed downward, but pressed the other
way are rough as a jungle of thistles.
The tubes, when in vigorous state,
generally contain water, part of which
is sometimes caught from rain, and the
rest is secreted by the plant.
These tubes are cunning and deadly
traps, beg1iling thirsty insects to drink
the beverage they present, and booming
them to a certain death when once they
have ventured over the smooth, down
ward path to the edge of the water, alias
the haunt of destruction. Having slaked
its thirst, the insect tries to retrace it's
steps; but the hairs along which it trav-
eled with ease in approaching the liquid
now present their thick and serried
points, like so many pixies, to oppose it's
progress, and, amazed, bewildered, baf-
fled, the luckless victim falls back after
an exhaustive series of fruitless efforts
to escape, and is drowned in the Circean
cup from which it so innocently and
gratefully drank.
Insects of all OrderS-ants, katydids,
lOcusts, crickets, cockroaches flies, moths
and butterfies-are drowned in hosts in
these treacherous pitchers; yet in only a
single instance has the "nectar-lOving
bee" been found among the mass of dead
and decaying bodies fished out of their
waters by the naturalists who have made
a study Of the plants and their prey.
Prof. Riley, State Entomologist of Mis-
souri,, relates that on one occasion he
found in pitcher the remains of bon
ibus and again the cold corpse of a
honey-bee.
AS the Pitcher plants grow only in wet
places they cannot need the liquid held
in their leaves for the simple uses of
water. The curious circumstance of
their being supplied with an extra APP
pendage for containing the fluid can only
be explained by the hypothesis that the
decomposing bodies of the insects
drowned in it furnish them with a liquid
manure which is essential to their exist
ence. The fact that the plants do not
thrive when secluded from insects tends
to substantiate the hypothesis, which is
accepted as nearly proven by the bota-
nists of the day
A still more curious family of Pitcher
plants than the Sarraceniads of America
Is the Nepenthace@ of the Indian Archi-
pelago. The Nepenthes are woody
climbers, with leaves tapering into a
tendril which bears at the end pitcher
of varying size and form. They reach
their greatest development in the island
of BOrneo. Wallace says in his history
of the Malay Archipelago: every noun
tain-tOp abounds with them, running
along the ground, or climbing over shrubs
and stunted trees-their elegant pitchers
hanging in every direction. Some of
these are long and slender, resembling in
form the beautiful Philippine lace-sponge
(EuplectetIG), which has now become so
common; others are broad and short
Their colors are green, variously tinted
and notified with red or purple. The
finest yet known were obtained on the
summit. of Kahn balon, in Northwest
Borneo. One of the broad sort (NepentheS
rQiah) will hold two quarts of water in it's
pitcher. Another (Nepenthes Edooard-
sS0n5d) has a narrow pitcher, twenty
inches long, while the plant itself grows
to the length OF twenty feet"
10 Al.
native attendants, Mr.. Wallace one day
grew distressingly thirsty where no water
was at hand. AT last he turned to the
Pitcher plants, the liquid in which was
full of drowned insects and otherwise
repulsive. But on tasting it, he found
it very palatable, and the whole party
gladly quenched their thirst at these nat
ural fountains. The Indians and the
monkeys who dwell in the regions in
habited by the Nepenthes are in the
habit of drinking from the pitchers when.
ever, in their trips at a distance from
water, they find need of moistenins
their parched tongues. DR.. Turner, ex
perimenting with the water contained in
an unopened pitcher, and therefore
wholly secreted by the plant, found thai
it emitted, when boiling, an odor like
baked apples, and containing trace oil
vegetable matter, and that it yielded
minute crystals of euperoxalate of pot
ash on being slowly evaporated to dry
ness.
The pitchers of some species of Nepen
thes are furnished with close-ftting lids
which move on participating hinges
that close in dry weather, as if to pre-
vent the exhalation of the precious con
tents they cover, and open when the at
mosphere is damp, in order to gather il
the watery vapor. But the most curious
of all the Pitcher plants now known is the
DaschtddG RqfIesiG1a0, which grows in the
forests of India. Its long, twining stem
is destitute of leaves until near the ex
tremity, which may be 100 feet or more
from the roots. Among these leaves are
suspended pitchers with open mouths
adapted to receive whatever moisture
may descend from the atmosphere in the
form of rain or dew. They are always
found to contain quantity of water, in
which insects, especially ants, are in al
stages OF decomposition. And, strangest
part of the apparatus, on the stem. neal
the pitchers or even on their stalks, grow
tufts of aerial roots which reach over
into the pitchers and absorb the LIQUID
stored there unquestionably for the sus
tenance of the plant. Chicago Tribune.