IS THE VALVE OF UTRICULARIA SENSITIVE? 153 



the water, and bear at the top three or four violet-pur- 

 ple flowers. The leaves — if they can be called leaves 

 — are scattered along the submerged stems in whorls of 

 five or six, the branch always maintaining the same 

 number that it starts with. The leaves are decom- 

 pound, and in a healthy plant each division is termi- 

 nated by a utricle. 



All over the stems and leaves and outer surface of the 

 utricle are thickly scattered curved hairs (Fig. 9), and 



FIG. 9. — SECTION Ob' STEM WITH CUUVED HAIRS. 



these hairs seem to serve a twofold purpose : they ar- 

 rest or capture both animal and vegetable decaying 

 matter — apparently food for the plant, which they seem 

 to absorb. With all of these mouths so thickly scattered 

 over the outer surface of the plant, we wonder why the 

 utricles are needed as reservoirs of food, but here they 

 are, and in great numbers, and larger than in most other 

 species, and they capture living animals. Fig. 10 rep- 

 resents a much enlarged utricle of this species. Here 

 we find no antennae, nor the least semblance of any ; 

 and the valve, instead of sinking into the orifice or 

 mouth, projects above it. According to naturalists, the 

 valve of all species of utricularia is formed of two 

 layers of small cells, and is simply a continuation of 

 the larger cells which form the wall of the utricle. It 



