The Collaborative International Dictionary
Quadrifid \Quad"ri*fid\, a. [L. quadrifidus; quattuor four + findere to cleave: cf. F. quadrifide.] Divided, or deeply cleft, into four parts; as, a quadrifid perianth; a quadrifid leaf.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
"divided in four parts," 1660s, from quadri- + -fid.
Wiktionary
a. Divided, or deeply cleft, into four parts.
Usage examples of "quadrifid".
Whether or not the decay of the imprisoned animals is an any way hastened, it is certain that matter is absorbed from them by the quadrifid and bifid processes.
From these experiments it is clear that the quadrifid and bifid processes have the power of absorbing carbonate and nitrate of ammonia, and matter of some kind from a putrid infusion of meat.
As far as I could make out, the bifid processes are developed in the same manner as the quadrifids, excepting that the two primary terminal cells never become divided, and only increase in length.
The two segments forming the pedicels of the glands probably answer to the conical protuberance and short footstalk of the quadrifid and bifid processes.
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.
The bladders also differ remarkably from those of the previous species, as within there are no quadrifid, only bifid, processes.
Finally, the conclusion to which we are led by the foregoing experiments and observations is that the bladders have no power of digesting animal matter, though it appears that the quadrifids are somewhat affected by a fresh infusion of raw meat.
In the latter case, water charged with excrementitious and decaying matter would be slowly forced outwards, and would bathe the quadrifids, if I am right in believing that the concave lobes contract after a time like those of Dionaea.
In the third bladder, the quadrifids included distinctly visible granules, and the primordial utricle was a little shrunk after only 8 hrs.
It will hereafter be seen that in three or four other species of Utricularia the quadrifid processes in contact with decaying animals likewise contained aggregated masses of protoplasm.
They are present in the quadrifids of young bladders, when only about a third of their full size.
My son examined the quadrifid processes in a bladder containing the remains of two crustaceans, and found some of them full of spherical or irregularly shaped masses of matter, which were observed to move and to coalesce.
Moreover, several of the quadrifids, which were before empty, now contained moderately sized or very small, more or less aggregated, globules of yellowish matter, as likewise occurs under the same circumstances with Utricularia.
Some of the quadrifids included a few spherical granules, but several were transparent and empty, and their positions were marked.
In the third bladder, the quadrifids included distinctly visible granules, and the primordial utricle was a little shrunk after only 8 hrs.