416 UTRICULAEIA NEGLECTA. Chap. XVII. 



We have seen with Drosera that the first effect of a 

 weak solution of carbonate of ammonia on the cell- 

 contents is the production of the finest granules, which 

 afterwards aggregate into larger, more or less rounded, 

 masses ; and that the granules in the layer of protoplasm 

 which flows round the walls ultimately coalesce with 

 these masses. Changes of this nature are, however, 

 far more rapid in Drosera than in Utricularia. Since 

 the bladders l\ave no power of digesting albumen, 

 cartilage, or roast meat, I was surprised that matter 

 was absorbed, at least in one case, from a fresh infusion 

 of raw meat. I was also surprised, from what we shall 

 presently see with respect to the glands round the 

 orifice, that a fresh solution of urea produced only a 

 moderate effect on the quadrifids. 



As the quadrifids are developed from paj)ill8e which 

 at first closely resemble those on the outside of the 

 bladders and on the surfaces of the leaves, I may here 

 state that the two hemispherical cells with which these 

 latter papillae are crowned, and which in their natural 

 state are perfectly transparent, likewise absorb car- 

 bonate and nitrate of ammonia ; for, after an immersion 

 of 23 hrs. in solutions of one part of both these salts 

 to 437 of water, their primordial utricles were a little 

 shrunk and of a pale brown tint, and sometimes finely 

 granular. The same result followed from the immersion 

 of a whole branch for nearly three days in a solution 

 of one part of the carbonate to 1750 of water. The 

 grains of chlorophyll, also, in the cells of the leaves 

 on this branch became in many places aggregated 

 into little green masses, which were often connected 

 together by the finest threads. 



On the Absorption of certain Fluids hy the Glands on 

 the Valve and Collar. — The glands round the orifices of 

 bladders which are still young, or which have been 



