to settle on the rim of the pitcher, and they are tempted to dally the longer since it secretes honey. But the thick, swollen rim of the pitcher is as smooth as if it were made of polished wax, and resembles the petals of those magnificent large orchids, the Stanhopeæ; the inner surface of the pitcher below the margin is also smooth, so that insects which creep about seeking honey are apt to slip and fall to the bottom. Even if many of them are not at once killed by the digestive fluid, but are able to climb up the smooth wall again, they cannot escape, for beneath the swollen rim, which projects inwards, there is a circle of strong bristles or teeth, with the points directed downwards, which, like thorns, prevent the captive's escape. Thus the pitchers of _Nepenthes_ secure and digest a large number of insects, and we can easily understand that the plant acquires a considerable amount of valuable nourishment in this way, for ready-made protoplasm is a convenient food to which the plant has to do but little in order to convert it into its own particular kind of living matter. The toothwort (_Lathræa squamaria_) must also be briefly noticed here, because it does not catch insects through the medium either of air or of water, but through the earth. As is well known, this plant is parasitic on the roots of various foliage-trees. It is of a pale yellowish colour, and has no green assimilating parts. For such a plant it must be of particular value to be able to catch animals and to use them as food. To this end the short, pale leaves, which surround the creeping, underground stem in the form of closely appressed scales, have been modified into snares for minute animals. The leaves have their upper parts recurved downwards, and the edges have grown together, so that only a small opening is left at the base, and this leads into a system of tunnels. Aphides, rotifers, bear-animalcules, but especially springtails (Podurids), creep into these hollow leaves, are held fast by a sticky secretion, and are dissolved and absorbed.