UTRICULARIA CLANDESTINE 13g 



Chapter VIII. 



UTRICULARIA CLANDESTINA. 



Foe several years past I have devoted much time to 

 a class of plants that seem to have reversed the regular 

 order of nature, and, like avengers of their kingdom, 

 have turned upon animals, incarcerating and finally kill- 

 ing them. Whether the plants are really hungry and 

 entrap the animals for food, or whether it is only an 

 example of the wanton destructiveness of nature I leave 

 the reader to judge. 



Some of these curious plants are found in abundance 

 in the Northern States, and others over a wide range 

 in the Southern States. One alone, the Dionsea, has a 

 limited area, being found only near Wilmington, North 

 Carolina. 



The Utricularias (named from utricle, a little bag or 

 bladder) are, perhaps, some of the most remarkable of 

 the plants which apparently do not conform to the usu- 

 al methods of nature. Dr. Gray, in his "Manual of 

 Botany of the Northern United States," describes twelve 

 well-defined species found within this range; and Dr. 

 Chapman, in his " Flora of the Southern States," de- 

 scribes nine species growing in Florida and the South- 



