Date: Wed, 11 Aug 1999 16:32:53 +0100 From: "Peter Quinnear" <Peter_Quinnear@rnli.org.uk> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg2895$foo@default> Subject: Darlingtonia - a bad case of overeating
I am not sure whether it had happened more or less overnight or I
had just not spotted it, but in amongst a mature tub of large
pitchered Darlingtonia, there was one pitcher that stood apart from
the rest in that it was black. As it did look so out of place I
decided to pull the pitcher out, which I did. It did not come away
clean at the base, but broke away about a half inch up the pitcher.
And there, hanging out of the bottom of the pitcher was a skeletal
leg.
I slit open the rest of the pitcher to look at the contents, and, as
I suspected in amongst the decomposing wasps and hover flies was the
decaying body of a frog, its body about an inch and a half long, I
reckon one of last years tadpoles.
I've not heard of a frog in a Darlingtonia before. It must have
made some effort to get there, climbing up and in. And yes - when I
opened the pitcher it did smell, quite badly!
Pete
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