ENPages
(seq. 6)
St. Stephens, March 7th. 1812
Dear Sir,
Yours of Jany. 17 was only recd. I replied imme diately & chiefly with the view of saving you the trou= ble of procuring & sending on a copy of Walter. About 10 days after I transmitted per mail some notices of a medical nature. March 5 recd. yours of Febr. 10th accom= panied by a copy of Walter for which I am truly obli= ged to you.
From the sin of theorizing "which doth so so easily beset" young men in the pursuit of science I hope I have been delivered of for some years. In the Sarracenia however I think we percieve something like the adaptation of means to a particular end. In summer, place the full grown leaves of the Sarracenia variolaris upright in convenient situations in a house infested by flies. These insects seem to be imme= =diately attracted, they settle on the leaf, directly approach the faux & leaning over the brim sip with earnestness something on the inside of the tube. In this position you will observe the flies to be cautiously attached by one or more feet to the outside of the leaf, but that after= ward, as if allured by the pleasure of taste, they quit their external hold & enter the tube. Now fix your attention on a particular fly & you will percieve that as soon as he has taken this position that his footing becomes ve =ry unsafe, that he totters, & finally slips to the bottom. Rarely does a fly in his descent take wing & escape, & so eagerly do these creatures press into the tubes that I have seen them nearly filled in a few hours.
The cause of the falling of the insect is in the disposition of the pubescence of the internal surface of the tubular leaves. This is composed of stiff seta immediately under the appendix, near the faux these become soft pili or villi all manifestly pointing to the bottom of the tube, & preventing the ascent of insects as I have tested by experiment. It is true, I have seen spiders ascend but it by the aid of a
(seq. 7)
[left] thread which they had warily attached to the top. I was much pleased to find you had noticed the phalena which on a upside in the tube, I had too observed them & thought it was 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 [chrysalis] developed 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 up against the points of the villi or pilli. By good glass we may find that the feet of this species of the sphinx genus are peculiar for med.
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 part on which I have said this fluid is found, you will find it very sweet. About the middle of the day it seems to be inspissated 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 [Scarabaeus] in his flight strike himself against the reflected appendix & fall into the tube. It was the Scarabous [Scarabaeus] 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, gryllus 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 red head hairy thighs & body, & is of a grey colour. It belongs to the vivisa ious section of the genus.
[right] 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. Dr. Barton told he had been informed that a Dionaea grew in Geo town district wh[ich] he suspected was a new species. I was born in Geo. town district & am familiar with to 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 my botanical range, it could not have escaped me. 3 If the Arbutus laurifolia grows were you suggest I will find it next summer. 4 I always thot. the A. pulverulenta grew plentifully be tween the head waters of Black river & Lynches creek & between the Cutter place & Peedee. I have seen (but it is some years since) in that country the A. [Andromeda] pulveru lenta of Bartram gives a plate of it, I am certain it grows thru for [Germen?] company a species of And. [Andromeda] with a plate in his travels. Bartam is not at 5 The And. argentea I know nothing of . The road mentioned I have traveled twice & my attention I recollect was [caught?] by a Kalmia with glaucous leaves which I now believe to have been the species cuneata [Kalmia cuneata].
All the plants you have not seen & which I can find will send soon as I can find them. Many I expect not to see but shall have be able to send some such as Delphinium, Heritiera, Salix, Grosule [Grossularia], &c &c. To the medical catalogue I hope to add something important in the course of this season. Drosera rotun difolia destroys insects or rather insects are destroyed by its leaves precisely as re lated in Supplement to Dobson's Edition of the Encyclopaedia vide art. Drosera. This I have witnessed often. The Anthera of the Asclepias obtusifolia converge & fasten the feet of insects which rob the nectories, as in Apocynum andro saemifolium. I never saw this latter plant, in the Cairn afinum I have seen no such thing. Dr. Barton told me that other Asclepiades caught insects. By the the interchange of specimens of the grasses I will be able to comply with your wishes. I discover a strong tendency in Walter to multiply species, this & other defects may have arisen from his being extremely near sighted. Some person always attends him to point out plants. It is much to be regretted that we have no biographical sketch of him. His only descen dants are my particular friends, & they can supply me with no limits of this nature. Mr. McCormick in Savannah ought to have his diary which I am told he kept with great & exactness for many years. Not stone or hillock tells us where he lies. We know he was buried in his garden the site of which can hardly be determined now. Today, March 8, I discovered the female plants of the Salix which I called in my last longistria in full bloom. The capsules do [diverge?] much when compared with those of the S. 5-Ora, & are longè rostrata; satmatè rubra, et 3-4 partita, sunt stigmata, squama Ament. femin. minores quam Ament. masc. etramet rubra.
I am sincerely, James Macbride
Allium canadense bloomed today.
(seq. 8)
7th March 1812
S.Ca. Mar 12 Paid 12 1/4
Stephen Elliott Esq {Esquire} Savannah Georgia
(seq. 9)
May 27th 1812
Mr. Elliot will oblige his friend J Macbride by giving in his next favour the genus & species of a plant which he has seen in flower for the first time today. Having only Michaux & Walter also give but the essential characters of known genera. J.M. cannot identify it, & especially as it has not seeded. This plant grows but in one place as far as J.M. knows viz. on the margin of a rich violet which affords plentifully the Thalictrum laevigatum, Prinos ambiguus, Orchis lacera, Veratrum album &c —
The class & order are Polyandria, polygynia; the flowers are borne in corymbs of 8 or 10 but seldom more than 5 or 6 are in bloom at a time; the petals or laciniae caly =cina are 3, 4, or 5, round, entire, reflexed, or oppressed, concave & deciduous & white (as is the whole flower); the filaments & anthers are white, the former petaliform especially towards the disk (somewhat like those of the Nymphaea alba); the stigmata rather hamose crowded on a receptacle like that of Frageria) I suspect they will form an acinose fruit.
The stem is simple rises often to the height of 2 feet. The leaves are alternate & few. Those near the root are petiolated long & the petioles canaliculated. The highest leaves (cauline) are nearly sessile, they are rather reniform sinuato seu incisolobated. Lobes or divisions are generally 5 or 3 & are saperné — serrated.
The roots are fleshy & fibrous, on tasting them I thought them rather insipid but they gave an extremely pungent sensation of short duraiton. The sensation is precisely that produced by the [lines?] of the species of Clematis which grow here. This plant evidently is nearly allied & the genera Ranunculus, Aneomone, &c, &c, &c.
I seize the opportunity which few men offer by Mr. Sanders who will [deposit this?]. He wants for me to finish or I could willingly say more. N.B. The radical leaves are more reniform than the cauline, the latter have some what a palmated appearance.
