203 TRAXSACTIONS, NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 



in which it differs from V. hirsuta, and it would 

 require to be studied in its native habitat before a 

 definite opinion could be given." 



Enough has been said to show clearly that this 

 plant of Hopkirk's was a genuine find, either a 

 remarkable variety of V, officinalis^ or a distinct sub- 

 species. It was long cultivated by botanists in 

 gardens, and was found to retain its distinctive 

 peculiarities. For many years back it does not seem 

 to have been reported from Ayrshire ; but it is pro- 

 bable that a diligent search might still be rewarded 

 with success. 



Utricidaria vulgaris he chronicles as growing " in 

 a deep hole in the marsh, Possil. Also at Robroy- 

 ston." Of late years its occurrence in either of these 

 stations has not been recorded. Altered conditions 

 may have occasioned its disappearance. Utricularia 

 tninor is found abundantly in Possil, but the only 

 station Hopkirk gives is "the Loch at New Kil- 

 patrick" (St. Germain's Loch presumably). He 

 appends an interesting note on U. vulgains : "In 

 searching for this plant," he says, " in the beginning 

 of AjDril, I could find no appearance of it in the 

 water ; but upon examining the mud at the bottom 

 of the j)ond, I found a number of little green balls, 

 which, upon examination, proved to be the tops of 

 the last year's plants, which, falling off, had lain 

 there during the winter, and when found were just 

 beginning to take root. By this manner it seems to 

 propagate itself." 



This is an interesting observation ; iind, from the 

 way in which he speaks of it, we are led to infer 

 that it was an original one on his part. Under any 

 circumstances the fact which he chronicles is correct. 

 This mode of propagation is not mentioned in several 

 works which I have consulted, but it is in Hooker 

 and Arnott's British Flora, where it is stated that 

 "it propagates itself by buds or gernmce, which pro- 

 ceed from the ends of the shoots, and seldom 

 flowers." Darwin, in his hisectivorous Plants, says :: 



