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National Geographic : 1964 May
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Life thrives in a perilous pool W ELL OF NO RETURN for most insects, a pitcher provides a cozy home for protozoans, algae, diatoms, worms, crustaceans, spiders, and even tadpoles. Some species are found only in plant pitchers. Here a blood-red spider crawls through the pool while waiting for insects lured by the plant's secretions. Immune to the fluid's effects, the eight-legged predator easily negotiates wax-smooth walls on which insects find no footing. Drowned ants and other insects float on the pool of Nepenthes raffesiana.The pitch ers belong to the genus Nepenthes, which takes its name from the drugged wine cup in Homer's Odyssey. Laboratory experiments have shown that the fluid can digest egg white and meat. Deadly maws await incautious insects on Mount Kinabalu. Spikes re sembling tank traps help to prevent insects from escaping the pools within these Nepenthes villosa pitchers. The pitcher walls secrete a wax that weakens the grip of an ant's claws. Unable to hold on, the insect tumbles into the well of the plant to its death. 694
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