328 ALDEOVANDA VESICULOSA. Chat. XIV. 



agrees with what I have observed under similar cir- 

 stances with Utricularia. 



Aldrovanda vesiculosa, var. australls. — Dried leaves of 

 this plant from Queensland in Australia were sent 

 me by Prof. Oliver from the herbarium at Kew. 

 Whether it ought to be considered as a distinct species 

 or a variety, cannot be told until the flowers are ex- 

 amined by a botanist. The projections at the upper 

 end of the petiole (from four to six in number) are 

 considerably longer relatively to the blade, and much 

 more attenuated than those of the European form. 

 They are thickly covered for a considerable space 

 near their extremities with the upcurved prickles, 

 which are quite absent in the latter form ; and they 

 generally bear on their tips two or three straight 

 prickles instead of one. The bilobed leaf appears 

 also to be rather larger and somewhat broader, with 

 the pedicel by which it is attached to the upper end 

 of the petiole a little longer. The points on the 

 infolded margins likewise differ ; they have narrower 

 bases, and are more pointed; long and short points 

 also alternate with much more regularity than in the 

 European form. The glands and sensitive hairs are 

 similar in the two forms. No quadrifid processes 

 could be seen on several of the leaves, but I do not 

 doubt that they were present, though indistinguish- 

 able from their delicacy and from having shrivelled ; 

 for they were quite distinct on one leaf under circum- 

 stances presently to be mentioned. 



Some of the closed leaves contained no prey, but in 

 one there was a rather large beetle^ which from its 

 flattened tibire I suppose was an aquatic species, but 

 was not allied to Colymbetes. All the softer tissues 

 of this beetle were completely dissolved, and its chiti- 

 nous integuments were as clean as if they had been 



