ferent kinds of pitcher-plants, varying in
size a great deal. But the strange thing about all of them is that the
ends of their leaves are shaped like pitchers, or perhaps it would
describe them better if we said they were like jugs with lids. It is
from this peculiarity that the plant takes its name. The leaf is the
shape of any ordinary leaf until it reaches its point, where it is drawn
out into a long stalk or tendril, at the end of which is the jug or
pitcher, which, you must remember, is formed out of the leaf itself.
Each plant has its own shape of jug, and the jugs vary in size a good
deal. Some are long and slender; others are broad and shallow. Some are
tiny jugs only an inch deep, while others are perhaps twenty inches
deep. Their colour is green, but the mouth of the jug and the under side
of the lid, which is always open, are spotted with red or purple,
somewhat like a flower.

Not only do these strange leaves look like jugs, but they are also used
as jugs. Each of them contains a little supply of water, varying with
the size of the jug from a few drops in the smallest, to as much as two
quarts in the largest of them. Thirsty travellers have sometimes
quenched their thirst from these natural jugs, when no other water was
to be found. Though the water itself is palatable, it is a little warm,
and it is always full of insects.

If any one were to watch one of these jugs of the pitcher-plant for some
time attentively, he would soon find that it served as a trap for flies
and insects. One by one the little creatures alight upon the outside of
the jug, and creep into the open mouth, and few or none of them ever
return. They slip into the water at the bottom of the jug and are
drowned.

If we examine a jug carefully, in order to learn why the insects enter
it, and how it is that they cannot get out again, we shall be surprised
at the clever way in which the trap is made. The mouth of the jug has a
thick ring round it, which makes it firm, and keeps it always open. The
lid stands over this mouth, and seems to be always raised a good deal,
so that insects and flies may enter freely; but it covers the mouth in
such a way as to prevent anything from falling accidentally into the jug
from above. The underside of the lid and the mouth of the jug are often
gaily coloured, so as to attract insects, as brightly-coloured flowers
do. Some of the jugs even make a little honey, which, forming just
inside the mouth, attracts