Insectivorous Plants 



285 



panying figure. These capture small aquatic animals, 

 such as insect larvae, crustaceans, mites, worms, etc. 



The mec- 

 hanism of 

 the trap;is 

 shown dia- 

 grammati- 

 cally ;1 in 

 figure 174. 

 First of all 

 there is a 

 circle of 

 r a d i a t - 

 ing hairs 

 about the 

 entrance, 

 set diagon- 

 ally out- 

 ward, like 

 the leaders 

 of a fisher- 

 man's fyke 

 net, and 

 well adapt- 

 ed to turn 

 the free- 

 swimming 

 water - flea 

 toward the 



Fig. 173. A 

 spray ofithe 

 common 

 bladderwort, 

 Utricularia. 



proper point of ingress. Then there is a trans- 

 parent elastic valve stopping the entrance, hinged by 



