868 UTRICULARIA NELUMBIFOLIA. [Chap. XVIIL 



UTRICULARIA NELUMBIFOLIA, AMETIIYSTINA, GRIFFITHII, 

 C.RULEA, ORBICULATA, MULTICAULI8 [cX)RNUTa]. 



As I wished to ascertain whether the bladders on the 

 rhizomes of other species of Utricularia, and of the species 

 of certain closely allied genera, had the same essential struc- 

 ture as those of Utricularia montana, and whether they cap- 

 tured prey, I asked Prof. Oliver to send me fragments 

 from the herbarium at Kew. He kindly selected some of the 

 most distinct forms, having entire leaves, and believed to 

 inhabit marshy ground or water. My son, Francis Darwin, 

 examined them, and has given me the following observa- 

 tions; but it should be borne in mind that it is extremely 

 difficult to make out the structure of such minute and deli- 

 cate objects after they have been dried and pressed.* 



Utricularia nelumbifolia (Organ Mountains, Brazil). 

 The habitat of this species is remark^ible. According to its 

 discoverer, Mr. Gardner,* it is aquatic, but " is only to be 

 found growing in the water which collects in the bottom 

 of the leaves of a large Tillandsia, that inhabits abundantly 

 an arid rocky part of the mountain, at an elevation of about 

 5000 feet above the level of the sea. Besides the ordinary 

 method by seed, it propagates itself by runners, which it 

 throws out from the base of the flower-stem; this runner is 

 always found directing itself towards the nearest Tillandsia, 

 when it inserts its point into the water and gives origin to 

 a new plant, which in its turn sends out another shoot. In 

 this manner I have seen not less than six plants united." 

 The bladders resemble those of Utricularia montana in all 

 essential respects, even to the presence of a few minute two- 

 armed glands on the valve. Within one bladder there was 

 the remnant of the abdomen of some larva or crustacean of 

 large size, having a brush of long sharp bristles at the apex. 

 Other bladders included fragments of articulate animals, 

 and many of them contained broken pieces of a curious or- 

 ganism, the nature of which was not recognised by any one 

 to whom it was shown. 



ProfeiMwr Oliver has g\\en tata ; but he does not appear to 



(' Proc. Linn. Soc' vol. Iv. p. 160) have paid particular attention to 



flKureH of the bladders of two these orRans. 



Bouth American species, namely, * Travels In the Interior of 



Vtricularia Jamcsonlana and pel- Brazil, 183C-41,' p. 527. 



