842 UTRICULARIA NEQLECTA. [Cbap. XVII. 



It is remarkable how unequally the glands on the blad- 

 ders on the same branch, and even the glands of the same 

 kind on the bladder, are affected by the foul water in which 

 the plants have grown, and by the solutions which were em- 

 ployed. In the former case I presume that this is due either 

 to little currents bringing matter to some glands and not to 

 others, or to unknown differences in their constitution. 

 When the glands on the same bladder are differently affected 

 by a solution, we may suspect that some of them had pre- 

 viously absorbed a small amount of matter from the water. 

 However this may be, we have seen that the glands on the 

 same leaf of Drosera are sometimes very unequally affected, 

 more especially when exposed to certain vapours. 



If glands which have already become brown, with their 

 primordial utricles shrunk, are irrigated with one of the 

 effective solutions, they are not acted on, or only slightly and 

 slowly. If, however, a gland contains merely a few coarse 

 granules, this does not prevent a solution from acting. I 

 have never seen any appearance making it probable that 

 glands which have been strongly affected by absorbing mat- 

 ter of any kind are capable of recovering their pristine, col- 

 ourless, and homogeneous condition, and of regaining the 

 power of absorbing. 



From the nature of the solutions which were tried, I 

 presume that nitrogen is absorbed by the glands; but the 

 modified, brownish, more or less shrunk, and aggregated con- 

 tents of the oblong glands were never seen by me or by my 

 son to undergo those spontaneous changes of form charac- 

 teristic of protoplasm. On the other hand, the contents of 

 the larger spherical glands often separated into small hy- 

 aline globules or irregularly shaped masses, which changed 

 their forms very slowly and ultimately coalesced, forming a 

 central shrunken mass. Whatever may be the nature of the 

 contents of the several kinds of glands, after they have been 

 acted on by foul water or by one of the nitrogenous solutions, 

 it is probable that the matter thus generated is of service 

 to the plant, and is ultimately transferred to other parts. 



The glands apparently absorb more quickly than do the 

 quadrifid and bifid processes; and on the view above main- 

 tained, namely that they absorb matter from putrid water 

 occasionally emitted from the bladders, they ought to act 



