EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. xili 



they grow on the brink of lakes or marines, which have no 

 currents, fuch as the willow and the reed ; but their leaves, 

 in that cafe have no aqueduct. Nay, there are fome which 

 have a pendent direction, and which, from that attitude, 

 refufe to admit the water from Heaven. The maple of 

 Virginia, which delights in the brinks of lakes, marfhes, 

 and creeks, has grains attached to membranous wings, re- 

 fembling thofe of a fly, as the feeds of the mountain maple 

 reprefented in the plate. But there is this remarkable dif- 

 ference between them, that the broad leaf of the firfl: is pen- 

 dent, and attached to a long tail ; that this tail, fo far from 

 being furnifhed with an aqueduct has a ridge ; and that the 

 leaf of the mountain maple, which is of a moderate fize, 

 angular and barky, for refifting the winds, rifes almoft 

 vertically, and bears an aqueduct on it's tail, to receive 

 the waters of Heaven. 



AQUATIC 



