108 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



absorb from the earth. As they have not the means of obtaining 

 enough nitrogen from the air they catch animals by various means 

 and retain their bodies, in some instances secreting juices which 

 act direcdy on the bodies. In time the insects die and decay, 

 and the plant obtains the required nitrogen. 



One of the commonest of these plants of prey is the well-known 

 Drosera or Sundew. In any outing of the Club during the 

 season thousands of these plants may be obtained, and if carefully 

 examined under a good lens their curious peltate leaves may be 

 seen to be covered with long hairs, each hair surmounted by a 

 gland. The modus operandi is as follows : — The insect sportively 

 flying among the grass, either for pleasure or prey, comes in 

 contact with a hair-like tentacle ; from each hair oozes a viscid 

 substance, which detains the insect, and then several neighbouring 

 tentacles close slowly over the victim, dragging it down to the 

 centre of the leaf, from whence it seldom escapes, but gradually 

 expires, and its nitrogen is finally absorbed by the Drosera. 



In some of the half-dried swamps about Oakleigh and elsewhere 

 may be found pretty little plants, each tall thin stem sur- 

 mounted by a yellow, pink, or blue flower. They belong to the 

 Bladderworts (Lentibularineae). This particular species is 

 Utonciilaria dichotoma. F. von Miilier describes them thus : — 

 "Stem often rather tall, always branchless; leaves from ovate to 

 almost linear, seldom conspicuously elongated; pitchers few; 

 flowers rather large;" and so on. The organs I wish to 

 draw your attention to are the pitchers or bladders. In the 

 Oakleigh species the bladders are few in number, and the plant 

 does not branch, but in Utricularia flexuosa, which Mr. 

 Luehmann assures me is to be found in the swamps about the 

 Yarra and Murray, these plants are described as " floating, 

 branched ; leaves distantly beset with numerous minute 

 roundish vesicular pitchers." These bladders form wonderful 

 traps for catching small water insects. Each bladder is borne on 

 a stalk, and has a small aperture on one side, completely sur- 

 rounded by stiff hairs or bristles. The opening itself is closed by 

 a small trap-door, which opens inwards. Now, we can easily 

 fancy a tiny animal fleeing in from its enemy amongst the stiff" 

 brisdes for protection. It pushes against the delicate valve, 

 which opens easily, and is admitted into the chamber, and the 

 valve immediately falls into its place. The same thing happens 

 over and over again, until the bladder becomes nearly full of 

 these little creatures. In a short time they die, decay, and the 

 products from their remains are absorbed by special cells found 

 in the lining wall of the bladder. According to Kerner the 

 principal animals found in these bladders are the larvae and adult 

 individuals of small species of Cypris, Daphnia, and Cyclops. 



Another plant, Cephalotus follicidaris, which, though not 



