thread which they had warily attached to the top. I was
much pleased to find you had noticed the phalena which
upside in the tube, I had too observed them & thought it was
on a they might be thier larva which feed among the putrid mass. These lepi
doptera I believe are sphinges which you know only fly
at night, at least this is the general habit of the
genus, & screen themselves in the day in these tubes.
I have seen their chrysalios develop in thier usual
covers in the leaves an inch below the brim. How the
sphinges ascend I know not, this I know, that most insects
can not pass as against the points of the villi or [fill?].
By good glass we may find the the feet of this species of the sphinx
genus are peculiar for me.
The cause of the attraction of the fly to the faux
I discovered to be a viscid fluid resembling honey in taste
which you may find secreted or deposited on the internal surface
the leaves lining the tube from its brim to the depth of 1/4 of an
inch or more. Early in the morning open a leaf & apply
it to your tongue, I mean the past on which I have said
this fluid is found, you will find it very sweet. About
the middle of the day it seams to be in [?] by the heat
of the sun.
Many insects I found in these tubes, which
which I suspect entered from differ motives from the fly. I was
sitting by some leaves of the S. [Sarracenia] flava in June last & saw a
Scarabous in his flight strike himself against the reflected
appendix & fall into the tube. It was the Scarabous pilularis
which was attending some cuttle that were lying down at no great
distance. I have seen in the tubes growing near deep ponds
several gyrini, [sryllis?] of the largest sort) which made me
suspect that the Nepa might make these leaves thier
repositories (Have you noticed these wonderful insects?
On the very day on which I saw the Scaraba
=us, spoken of, caught, my attention was attracted by a large
fly (Musca) about twice or thrice the size of the housefly which
was briskly passing from the brim of one tube to another. I expec=
=ted to see it precipitate every moment, but far otherwise
for I perceived it when near me to have its posterior part
over the tube at the termination of the ala ventrals; & eject
a live black headed maggot which immediately by a brisk vermicula mo
tion sought the bottom of the leaf. I had often percieved this
very species of fly about the S. [Sarracenia] variolaris, it has a read head
hairy thighs & body, & is of a gray colour. It belongs to the vivisa
ious section of the genus.
I fear I have tired you & really suspect you will now
find you procured yourself an uninteresting correspon=
dent. Permit me only to add that the water in the leaves of the
Sarracenia I think is a secretion principally. It has no vis
=cidity — Now to your enquiries I have never seen the Dionaea
growing wild in any part of S. Carolina dist. wh[ich?] he suspects was a new
species. I was born in Geo. town district & am familiar with the plants in some
parts of that district than with those of St. Stephen's & have never seen them. Many persons who are not
botanists naturelly suppose our Drosera to be a Dionaea. If it grow in Geo.
town district it must be 1. on or near the road between that place & Wilmington. Its habitat
seems very limited. 2. No Dodecatheon exists in any botanical range, it could not
have escaped me. 3. If the Arbustus laurifolia grows were
EN