Canister mounted on air box w/ 2 vac hoses?

[cpainter]

2001 Pathfinder with the 3.5L V-6

I've spent hours trying to figure out what the canister mounted on my air filter box is. It has two vac hoses going to it and the hose barbs have broken off the top of the canister. I just hose barbed the two hoses together for now, but would love to find out if the canister is important or not and what the heck it does. My searches have led me to believe that my Pathy is the only one ever produced with this canister anywhere in the world.