130 Rev. P. Keith on the Structure of Living Fabrics, 



and in many cases exquisitely coloured ; so that the beauties 

 of the departed flower have but given way to the beauties of 

 the ripened fruit ; the mellow tints of autumn being equally 

 pleasing with the bloom of spring, and the complexion of the 

 Peach and Apricot being nothing inferior to that of the blos- 

 som which preceded them. 



Cum decorum mitibus pomis caput 



Autumnus arvis extulit; 

 Ut gaiidet, insitiva decerpens pyra \ 



Certantem et uvam purpura. — Hor. Epod. 11. 17. 



Fruits may be regarded as composed of two distinct and 

 constituent parts, — the pericarp, and the seed. The Pericarp 

 is the exterior portion of the ripened ovary, constituting, for 

 the most part, its principal mass. Pericarps are distributed 

 by botanists into the following species, though several of the 

 terms are applied to the fruit also, — the capsule, the pome, the 

 berry, the drupe, the silique, the legume, the cone. The cap- 

 sule is a dry and membranaceous pericarp, separating when 

 ripe into valves. The pome is a fleshy pericarp, inclosing a 

 capsule, as in the familiar case of the Apple or Pear. The 

 berry is a soft and pulpy pericarp, containing one or more 

 seeds, but not inclosing a capsule. The drupe is a soft and 

 pulpy pericarp, inclosing a nut ; it is exemplified in the Cherry 

 and Peach. The silique and legume are pods of different 

 species, the one exemplified in Shepherd's Purse, the other in 

 the Pea. The cone or strobile is the scales of the catkin, as 

 exemplified in the genus Pinus. — The Seed, the last and most 

 noble part of the fruit, is the interior portion of the ripened 

 ovary, contained within the pericarp, and containing the rudi- 

 ments of a new plant similar to that from which it sprang. 

 In the Pea and Bean it is that part of the fruit which is eaten. 

 In the Apple it is that part which is rejected and lodged within 

 the core. Its figure, like that of the flower and fruit, is very 

 much diversified. It is globular, or egg-shaped, or oblong, 

 or kidney-shaped, or lenticular. Its magnitude is estimated 

 by four cardinal points, instituted by botanists, and serving as 

 a gauge or standard, through the application of which it is 

 regarded as being large, middle-sized, small, or minute. It 

 is smooth as in Linum, or furrowed as in Vinca, or wrinkled 

 as in Dianthus inodorus, and is susceptible of the same modi- 

 fications of shade as the flower and fruit. In Paeonia it is of 

 a deep or dark purple ; in Croton cayarwspermum, it is of an 

 azure blue ; in Abrns precatorius it is of a rich scarlet ; and 

 in Coix, it is white as snow. On the surface of the seed, and 

 at the point of its attachment to the pericarp, there is always 

 to be found a mark or scar, differing in colour and in grain 



