i88 



FRESH-WATER BIOLOGY 



Fig. 263. Brasenia 

 are surrounded 

 (After Gobel.) 



very different composition from the slime which occurs on the lower 

 surface of a floating leaf. The occurrence of the latter may be 

 accidental so far as the plant is concerned and have little im- 

 portance in its welfare. In the algae and even with delicate parts 



of higher plants such a coating 

 may serve to retard the ex- 

 change of liquids, thus pre- 

 venting plasmolysis, or in like 

 manner it may enable the 

 plant to maintain a cell sap 

 of much greater density than 



pdtata. The young buds and petWes 4-},„j- „f tUp ciirrnilnrlincr -nra tpr 

 by a gelatinous envelope of slime, ^ii^^^ 01 tne SUrrOUnOing WaiCr 



(Fig. 263). 



Quite a number of terrestrial species are especially adapted for 

 retaining and digesting as food small animals which are so unfor- 

 tunate as to wander into the traps borne by the plant. Few 

 aquatic species have acquired this habit but there are some mem- 

 bers of the genus Utricu- 

 laria remarkable for the 

 special organs developed to 

 secure animal food. The 

 bladders are generally re- 

 garded as modified leaves, 

 and structures resembling 

 stomata have been found 

 on them in some cases. 

 The bladders have small 

 openings guarded by hairs 

 and closed by a sort of trap- 

 door which permits small animals in the water to enter but which 

 prevents any escape for the victims (Fig. 264). 



These plants may float free, so far as roots are concerned, but, as 

 with Ceratophyllum, accidental attachment or rather anchorage fre- 

 quently occurs through entanglement with other plants or by being 

 partly buried in the mud. 



All of the species raise the inflorescence above the water and 

 Utricularia inflata sends out whorls of leaves with inflated petioles 



F1G.264. utricularia minor. Numerous bladders on the leaves. 

 A , enlarged bladders. L, flower-stalk rising above the water. 

 The main leal axis or stem is to be imagined as horizontal 

 in the water. (After Gliick.) 



