504 



THE UNIVERSE. 



spread out and form a numerous cortege, floating around 

 the females. Thus is the wedding of the Vallisneria ac- 

 comphshed, and the intent of this curious scene is so 

 clearly marked out, that so soon as the act is over, the 

 fecundated flowers shorten their spirals and sink beneath 

 the water to ripen their fruit. 



Our marshes nourish a still more curious plant, the 





W^Sgii- 



57. Nuptials of the Common Utricularia— &'<i-(c«?acia vulrjaris (Linniisus). 



Utricularia, doubly remarkable for its singular look and 

 for its mode of ascent. Yet its fecundation is far from 

 having acquired the celebrity of that of the VaUisneria, 

 poetry not having appropriated it as it has done with the 

 other. This plant at the bottom of the water looks like a 

 confused mass of fibres. When we withdraw it and in- 

 spect it, we observe that its capillary ramifications present 



