BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 261 



140 THK FISH-EATINO I7TRICU£.ARaA, OR BliADDERlVORT. 



By Piof. H. N. MOSEI.EY. 



[From a letter to Prof. S. F. Baird.] 



I felt sure tbat the specimen of Utricularia* would be of much interest 

 to you. I am soi ry tbat probably I cannot procure for you any more speci- 

 mens with fish entrap])ed this year. Mr. Simms was unfortunately taken 

 ill a few days after he brought his discovery to me and has been unable 

 to set about preparing; specimens since. The season for spawn of the 

 common river fishes was alread}' far advanced when the discovery was 

 made, and I found it before I expected too late to get a satisfactory 

 supply, and also have found the matter not so simple as 1 at first sup- 

 posed. I found that a certain residual number of a certain batch of 

 young fish remained weeks with the weed untrapped, either because 

 the weed is only able to catch them when the weather is warm, or be- 

 cause they learn by exi)erience (impossible), or because the plant soon 

 ^ i^es its activity in confinement (?). Other experiments seem to show 



at possibly one certain species of young fish get caught. The matter 



idently requires a great deal of investigation. I have only very few 

 tsp^cimeus, such as I sent you, and I intend to exhibit these at Montreal 

 and possibly at Philadelphia, and to read a short paper on the matter. 

 I can send you plenty of our living Utricularia vulgaris &\\o\\\(\jo\\ care 

 to have it. I see Asa Gray in his manual refers to Var. Americana 

 as most common in the United States, but no doubt the two varieties 

 will act alike as to young fish. You will no doubt at once try the plant 

 with young carp^ I have not found any case of a young fish already 

 trapped by any specimen of the Utricularia taken from the pond in 

 which it grows here, although there are many fish in the pond. 



14 St. Giles, Oxford, June 20, 1884. 



1 il— MEMORAXDITM OF SO.IIE RESUt,TS OF FISH-CCL,TURE AT,- 



RFA»V ATTAIiVEO. 



By MAKSBBALL McDOIVALD. 



Carp. — The carp wherever planted under favorable conditions and 

 receiving reasonable care and attention have grown, bred, and multi- 



*The sjiecimen has been figured under the direction of Mr. John A. Ryder (see 

 plate I). Three of the figures are original ; one is copied. — C. W. S. 



ExPL \NATiox OF THE PLATE. — Fig. 1. VtricidarUi vulgaris, nat. size; plant lu flower. 

 (From Maout and Decaisue.) Fig. 2. A single chister of leaves enlarged twice, show- 

 ing the little bLiddcrs in position, one of which has siczed a young fish by the head. 

 Fig. 3. A single bladder enlarged sixteen times, showing the two branched filaments at 

 the open end. Fig. 4. A bladder enlarged seven times; a young fish has been seized 

 by the tail. 



