KOW P].ANT,S USE AMMAI,S. 2^ 



King George's Sound in Western Austrulia. The leutless sca})e 

 is from one to two feet high, and bears a narrow panicle of small 

 white flowers. The leaves are all radicle and arranged in a 

 rosette. They are from one-half to one inch in length, obovate- 

 oblong in form, with entire margins and obtuse apex, and nar- 

 rowing into a i)etiole often as long as the blade. Some of them 

 are converted into ovoid or nearly globular pitchers of about one 

 inch in dianicter. The mouth of the pitcher is l)ordered by a 

 plaited ring and the ovate lid is attached to the side next ihe 

 leaf-stock.* Very little accessibla information exists as to the 

 plant's mode of procedure in attracting and trapping insects, but 

 the very structure of the pitcher, the position of the lid and the 

 peculiar border around the mouth, are sufficient proof that they 

 are designed to prey upon the insect world. 



Order V. — The fifth family of these life-destroying plants 

 (Lentibulariaceae) embraces nearly 20U species, which are very 

 unevenly distributed between four genera. The greater number 

 are inhabitants of the temperate and cold regions of the globe. 

 Some species are terrestrial, others aquatic; consequently very 

 difl'erent adaptations are required for tlie capture of their prey. 

 The former set their traps for winged or crawling animals, and 

 the latter for those living in stagnant pools. 



1. The largest genus is Ultricularia (Bladder- wort), contain- 

 ing 150 species, of which eight occur in Canada. A few have 

 been subjected to very careful observation and experiment. f 

 The })lants are often abundant in ditches and muddy pools along 

 the roadsides, and can l)e easil}^ procured for examination. Our 

 Canadian species are all aquatic, having the stems and leaves 

 immersed, and dissected into fine capillary divisions, bearing 

 numerous little utricles or bladders which float the plant during 

 the flowering season, which continues most of the summer. The 

 leafless scapes rise from three to twelve inches above the water, 

 and bear from one to ten peculiarly-shaped flowers of a yellow. 

 or sometimes purple color. The bladders are furnished with a 

 valvular lid, and usually with a few bristles at the entrance. 



*Darwiii devotes 50 pages to his experiments, and Mrs. Treat 24. 

 •rBcntham. Flora Aitstraliensis. vol. 11. 44H. 



