BRITISH SPECIES OF UTRICULARIA. 89 



Recorded from 32 English and AVelsli counties and some 17 

 Scotch, this interesting little plant is widely distributed, from the 

 extreme south to the extreme north of Great Britain. It cannot 

 easily be mistaken for any of the preceding : its small size, its 

 lemon-coloured flowers, the reduction of the spur to a broad Ijluntly 

 conical hump, about as broad as long, mark it unmistakeably. The 

 bladders, which are very small, are usually Ijorne upon the leaves, 

 but may also be found, one or two together, upon slender stalks 

 direct from the stem, without any sign of leaf ; and are in that 

 case pale in colour as if from burrowing in the loose mud (after the 

 fashion of U. intermedia). It opens one's eyes to the wonders of the 

 inflnitely small in the animal world to learn that the tiny bladders 

 of U. minor have been observed to contain a greater number of 

 crustaceans than the larger bladders of U. negleda. Darwin gives 

 ten as the maximum counted in a bladder of the latter species, but 

 records 15, 20, even 24, as having been observed in a bladder of U. 

 minor ! 



A fifth species has been for many years suspected as British and 

 claimed as such — viz., JJ, Bremii, Heer. But as the distinctions lie 

 chiefly in the flower, and the flower of the supposed British plants 

 has never been found in this country, it is needful to wait for 

 further evidence. U. Bremii seems to come very near U. minor, 

 difi'ering from it in the more robust habit, the more pointed conic 

 spur, and the lower lip orbicular, spreading. There is little in the 

 description to separate these two as distinct species. 



