Chap. XVIL] 



UTRICULARIA MINOR. 



34T 



UTRICULARU VULGARIS. 



Living plants from Yorkshire were sent me by Dr. Hooker. 

 This species differs from the last in the stems and leaves being 

 thicker or coarser; their divisions form a more acute angle with 

 one another; the notches on the leaves bear three or four short 

 bristles instead of one; and the bladders are twice as large, or 

 about ^ of an inch (5.08 mm.) in diameter. In all essential re- 

 spects the bladders resemble those of Utricularia neylccta, but the 

 sides of the peristome are perhaps a little more prominent, and 

 always bear, as far as I have seen, seven or eight long multicellular 

 bristles. There, are eleven long bristles on each antenna, the ter- 

 minal pair being included. Five bladders, containing prey of some 

 kind, were examined. The first included five Cypris, a large cope- 

 pod and a Diaptomus; the second, four Cypris; the third, a 

 single rather large crustacean; the fourth, six crustaceans; and 

 the fifth, ten. My son examined the quadrifid processes in a 

 bladder containing the remains of two crustaceans, and found some 

 of them full of spherical or irregularly shaped masses of matter, 

 which were observed to move and to coalesce. These masses there- 

 fore consisted of protoplasm. 



UTRICULARIA MINOR. 



This rare species was sent me in a living state from Cheshire, 

 through the kindness of Mr. John Price. The leaves and bladders 

 are much smaller than those of Utricularia neglecta. The leaves 

 bear fewer and shorter bristles, and the bladders are more globular. 

 The antennae, instead of projecting in front of the bladders, are 

 curled under the valve, and are armed with twelve or fourteen 

 extremely long multicellular bristles, generally arranged in pairs. 

 These, with seven or eight long bristles on 

 both sides of the peristome, form a sort of 

 net over the valve, which would tend to 

 prevent all animals, excepting very small 

 ones, entering the bladder. The valve and 

 collar have the same essential structure as 

 in the two previous species; but the glands 

 are not quite so numerous; the oblong ones 

 are rather more elongated, whilst the two- 

 armed ones are rather less elongated. The 

 four bristles which project obliquely from 

 the lower edge of the valve are short. Their 

 shortness, compared with those on the 

 valves of the foregoing species, is intelligible 

 if my view is correct that they serve to pre- 

 vent too large animals forcing an entrance through the valve, thus 

 injuring it; for the valve is already protected to a certain extent 

 by the incurved antennae, together with the lateral bristles. The 

 bifid processes are like those in the previous species; but the 

 quadrifids differ in the four arms (Fig. 25) being directed to the 



Fro. 25. 



( Utricularia minor.) 



Quadrifid process; 



greatly enlarged. 



