Cmar. XVII.] ABSORPTION BY THE QUADRIFIDS. 300 
case; nevertheless, the primordial utricle in some of the arms was a 
little shrunk, and in others was divided into two almost symmetrical 
sacks. 
Three bisected bladders, after being examined, were irrigated with 
a putrid and very offensive infusion of raw meat. After 23 hrs. the 
quadrifids and bifids in all three specimens abounded with minute, 
hyaline, spherical masses; and some of their primordial utricles were 
a little shrunk. Three bisected bladders were also irrigated with 
a fresh infusion of raw meat; and to my surprise the quadrifids in 
one of them appeared, after 23 hrs., finely granular, with their 
primordial utricles somewhat shrunk and marked with thickened yellow- 
ish specks; so that they had been acted on in the same manner as by 
the putrid infusion or by the salts of ammonia. In the second 
bladder some of the quadrifids were similarly acted on, though to 
a very slight degree ; whilst the third bladder was not at all affected. 
From these experiments it is clear that the quadrifid and 
bifid processes have the power of absorbing carbonate and 
nitrate of ammonia, and matter of some kind from a putrid 
infusion of meat. Salts of ammonia were selected for trial, 
as they are known to be rapidly generated by the decay of 
animal matter in the presence of air and water, and would 
therefore be generated within the bladders containing cap- 
tured prey. The effect produced on the processes by these 
salts and by a putrid infusion of raw meat differs from that 
produced by the decay of the naturally captured animals 
only in the aggregated masses of protoplasm being in the 
latter case of larger size; but it is probable that the fine 
granules and small hyaline spheres produced by the solutions 
would coalesce into larger masses, with time enough allowed. 
We have seen with Drosera that the first effect of a weak 
solution of carbonate of ammonia on the cell-contents is the 
production of the finest granules, which afterwards aggre- 
gate into larger, more or less rounded, masses; and that the 
granules in the layer of protoplasm which flows round the 
walls ultimately coalesce with these masses. Changes of 
this nature are, however, far more rapid in Drosera than in 
Utricularia. Since the bladders have no power of digesting 
albumen, cartilage, or roast meat, I was surprised that matter 
was absorbed, at least in one case, from a fresh infusion 
of raw meat. I was also surprised, from what we shall 
presently see with respect to the glands round the orifice, 
that a fresh solution of urea produced only a moderate effect 
on the quadrifids. 
