was also thickened here and there into irregular and variously shaped
specks of yellowish translucent matter, as occurred in the case of
Utricularia neglecta under similar treatment. These specks apparently
did not change their forms.
The minute two-armed glands on the valve were also affected by the
solution; for they now contained several, sometimes as many as six or
eight, almost spherical masses of translucent matter, tinged with
yellow, which slowly changed their forms and positions. Such masses
were never observed in these glands in their ordinary state. We may
therefore infer that they serve for absorption. Whenever a little water
is expelled from a bladder containing animal remains (by the means
formerly specified, more especially by the generation of bubbles of
air), it will fill the cavity in which the valve lies; and thus the
glands will be able to utilise decayed matter which otherwise would
have been wasted.
Finally, as numerous minute animals are captured by this plant in its
native country and when cultivated, there can be no doubt that the
bladders, though so small, are far from being in a rudimentary
condition; on the contrary, they are highly efficient traps. Nor can
there be any doubt that matter is absorbed from the decayed prey by the
quadrifid and bifid processes, and that protoplasm is thus generated.
What tempts animals of such diverse kinds to enter [page 439] the
cavity beneath the bowed antenn , and then force their way through the
little slit-like orifice between the valve and collar into the bladders
filled with water, I cannot conjecture.
Tubers. These organs, one of which is represented in a previous figure
(fig. 26) of the natural size, deserve a few remarks. Twenty were found
on the rhizomes of a single plant, but they cannot be strictly counted;
for, besides the twenty, there were all possible gradations between a
short length of a rhizome just perceptibly swollen and one so much
swollen that it might be doubtfully called a tuber. When well
developed, they are oval and symmetrical, more so than appears in the
figure. The largest which I saw was 1 inch (25.4 mm.) in length and .45
inch (11.43 mm.) in breadth. They commonly lie near the surface, but
some are buried at the depth of 2 inches. The buried ones are dirty
white, but those partly exposed to the light become greenish from the
development, of chlorophyll in their superficial cells. They terminate
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