CuAP. XVII,] MilNNER OP CAPTURING PREY. 333 



meat soaked for ten minutes in water mingled with the 

 milky juice of the papaw becomes quite tender and soon 

 passes, as Browne remarks in his * Natural History of Ja- 

 maica,' into a state of putridity. 



Whether or not the decay of the imprisoned animals is in 

 any way hastened, it is certain that matter is absorbed from 

 them by the quadrifid and bifid processes. The extremely 

 delicate nature of the membrane of which these processes 

 are formed, and the large surface which they expose, owing 

 to their number crowded over the whole interior of the blad- 

 der, are circumstances all favouring the process of absorp- 

 tion. Many perfectly clean bladders which had never caught 

 any prey were opened, and nothing could be distinguished 

 with a No. 8 object-glass of Hartnack within the delicate, 

 structureless protoplasmic lining of the arms, excepting in 

 each a single yellowish particle or modified nucleus. Some- 

 times two or even three such particles were present; but in 

 this case traces of decaying matter could generally be de- 

 tected. On the other hand, in bladders containing either 

 one large or several small decayed animals, the processes pre- 

 sented a widely different appearance. Six such bladders 

 were carefully examined; one contained an elongated, coiled- 

 up larva; another a single large entomostracan, and the 

 others from two to five smaller ones, all in a decayed state. 

 In these six bladders, a large number of the quadrifid pro- 

 cesses contained transparent, often yellowish, more or less 

 confluent, spherical or irregularly shaped, masses of matter. 

 Some of the processes, however, contained only fine granular 

 matter, the particles of which were so small that they could 

 not be defined clearly with No. 8 of Hartnack. The delicate 

 layer of protoplasm lining their walls was in some cases a 

 little shrunk.* On three occasions the above small masses of 

 matter were observed and sketched at short intervals of time; 

 and they certainly changed their positions relatively to each 

 other and to the walls of the arms. Separate masses some- 

 times became confluent, and then again divided. A single 



[Schimper (loc. eit. p. 247) ob- the commonest chanjre is a col- 

 served n marked dlfferonoe In the leotlon of the protoplasm In the 

 appearance of the hairs In those axis of the cell where It Is sus- 

 bladders of V. comuta which con- pended by radiating strands to 

 tain captured prey. The proto- the delicate layer of protoplasm 

 plasm Is- Kometlnies more granu- lining the walls. F. D.J 

 far than In empty bladders, but 



