COASTS OF AUSTRAt,IA. '155 cavities, upon examination, contained but yery 'i8?. little water, and the state of the weather was exceedingly cloudy, und at intervals showery; if, therefore, the appendages are really cisterns, to receive an elemental fluid for the nourish- ment of the plant in times of drought, it is na- tural to suppose that this circumstance would operate upon 'the ramified vessels of the lids, so as to draw them up, and allow the rain to re- plenish the pitchers. Mr. Brown also, who had an opportunity in 1801 of examining plants fully grown, supposes it probable that the vertical or horizontal po?itiorm in which the opere?la were remarked, are determined by the state of the at- mcephere, at the same time that he thinks it possible that the fluid may be a secretion of the plant. The several dead insects' that were ob- served within the vases of cep?alotus were very possibly deposited there by an insect of prey, since I detected a slender-bodied fly (khnm. mort) within a dosed pitcher, having evident- ly forced its passage under the lid to the interior, where an abundant store of putres. cent insects were collected. WhilSt, there- fore, these pitchers are answering the double purpose, of being a reservoir to retain a fluid, however produced, for the nourishment of the plant in the exi6ency of a dry season, as also
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