188 UPLAND AND MEADOW. 



no longer contain it ; then, in some appropriate locality, 

 the gelatinous ectocyst adheres to the surface, the cilia 

 are absorbed, and the polypide enters upon a new 

 phase of life as the founder of a community." 



Of the weeds themselves, there is little to be said. 

 What some of them are, other pages have made plain, 

 except that, until now, no mention has been made of 

 the carnivorous bladderworts. They are light, feathery 

 plants, delicate as small ferns, and surely very innocent 

 looking; and yet, insect larvae are often, and baby 

 fishes, not being born botanists, are sometimes, fatally 

 entrapped by them. 



Some, who have studied these plants, hold that they 

 are sensitive; others consider the movements of the 

 valves of the "bladders," that entrap minute animal 

 life, as merely mechanical. However this may be, they 

 certainly act as if they meant to accomplish that which 

 they perform. How do they do this ? 



Some of these plants have no roots, and float, unless 

 there is no current, when they rest against the bottom 

 of the pond or along the banks, if in a sluggish stream, 

 such as in our meadow ditches. Scattered thickly 

 among the little leaflets of the plant are numbers of 

 very small green vesicles, which entrap various forms of 

 minute animal life, said to then serve as nourishment 

 for the plant. The form of these vesicles " is that of a 

 flattened ovoid sac." Each " has an opening at its free 

 extremity, somewhat quadrangular in outline. 



"On either side of the quadrangular entrance sev- 

 eral long bristles project outward, and these bristles, to- 



