144 
nature; study. 
long limbs behind the friendly shelter of some alders, 
watched their pretty performances with delight. 
This may sound like a “ fish” story, as indeed it is, but, 
unlike most fish stories, it all really, truly happened. 
Organotopic Plants. V. 
BY FREDERICK W. BATCHEEDER. 
The plants of the genus Drosera, popularly named sun¬ 
dew, were described in the last article. These plants not 
only catch insects and other small animals for food but they 
actually digest the substance of them, after the manner of 
animals. Our other insectivorous (better called carnivor¬ 
ous) plants do not possess the power of digestion and there¬ 
fore have to avail themselves of indirect methods in obtain¬ 
ing nitrogenous material from their prey. These methods 
will be described in connection with the two local genera 
which remain to be considered. 
Like the other carnivorous plants the bladderworts (Ut- 
ricularia) are unfamiliar objects from the fact that their 
habitat is usually difficult of access. About a dozen spe¬ 
cies are given in the manuals for New England. As yet 
only three species have been positively identified in the 
vicinity of Manchester. These are Utricularia cornuta, 
resupinata and vulgaris. The first and last are rather com¬ 
mon ; the second is rare and local. I have found them all 
in a single station here. U. cornuta grows on the borders 
of boggy ponds or mud holes, rooting in the mud. It has 
a scape five to ten inches in height, bearing several bright 
yellow flowers which are shaped somewhat like those of 
the snap-dragon. The flowers of vulgaris are also yellow, 
but the plant is strictly aquatic, with floating, finely dis¬ 
sected leaves. The plants of resupinata are small, from 
