182 EKYTHEA. 



to examine carefully into this matter, because of the generally 

 accepted statements that the bladders contain water. Mer- 

 tens, as quoted by Harvey in the Nereis Boreali-Americana 

 (Part I; 87.) says: "The opening of the bladder and the 

 discharging of the water which it uniformly contains, only 

 hastens the process of decomposition." Farlow, also, quotes 

 Cleveland as saying: " The upper bladder contained about 

 one-half pint of water," (cf. Bull. Torr. Bot. Club, XVI; 8, 

 1889.) According to the writer's experience, it certainly 

 seems as if the specimens upon which the above accounts 

 were based, must have been injured in some way, so as to 

 allow the entrance of water from the outside. When an 

 uninjured bladder was pierced by a knife-blade, a " sucking " 

 noise was heard and any moisture which happened to be left 

 on the outside of the bladder at that point, was drawn inside. 



The two arms rise almost immediately from a common 

 point of origin upon the top of the bladder. The point of 

 union projects only a few centimeters from the top of the 

 bladder. The arms themselves are two in number and reach 

 a length varying from 1.3 to 1.6 meters. They are very de- 

 cidedly flattened, are solid, and bear, in all the perfect speci- 

 mens examined by the writer, six large leaves, arranged in a 

 row upon the upper side of each. 



The leaves, in perfect specimens, are ample, very thin and 

 very brittle, so much so, in fact, that it was only by exercising 

 the greatest care that they could be withdrawn from the 

 water and taken into the boat. A sudden or hurried pull 

 upon them caused them to split transversely. They become 

 very brittle in drying and are always lost in preparations of 

 the whole plant. 



The leaves are borne upon petioles 23 to 25 cm. long, 

 which are fairly stout below, but are contracted suddenly just 

 at the bases of the leaves. This is very well shown in the 

 specimen represented |,upon Plate VII. The blades of the 

 leaves reach a length of from 4 to 5.5 meters and their width 

 varies up to 46 cm. They are very decidedly, and more or 

 less broadly, cuneate at the base and the borders are ample 



