THE MAPLE AND THE SYCAMORE. 75 



that every one of these pimples is in reality a little cell, the habitation 

 of some creature still more minute, and having the entrance barricaded 

 with tufts of delicate white hairs, very interesting to examine with the 

 microscope. We admire the architectural grandeurs of a great city. 

 How many millions of quiet little abodes are here, exquisitely beautiful 

 in design and finish, which we never even see, or seeing, pass by 

 with indifference and incuriousness ! The sycamore, in its turn, is 

 extremely liable, towards autumn, to have its leaves patched with 

 great round spots of black. These have their origin in a curious 

 parasitic plant of fungoid nature, and which has been named by the 

 learned, Rhytisma acerina. 



The October tinting varies considerably. While the sycamore pre- 

 sents no colour of interest, the maple turns to a deep, clear yellow, 

 the more remarkable since in the sugar-maple of Canada and New 

 Brunswick, the colour assumed before decay is an inexpressibly-brilliant 



Sugar Maple. 



ted. The last-named tree is celebrated also for its copious supply of 

 that delicious saccharine sap which, when subjected to certain pro- 

 cesses, becomes "maple-sugar." A similarly- constituted sap exists 

 more or less abundantly in all the species of Acer, but it is ordinarily 

 too thin and watery to be used like that of the true sugar-maple. 

 Another excellent product of these trees is the wood. Many species 

 have been esteemed for this from time immemorial. The Romans 

 were particularly fond of it, and in Virgil we have Evander represented 

 sitting on a maple throne. A corky bark forms another curious feature 

 of the common English maple ; and as if this were not sufficient to 

 give botanical mark to the tree, the flowers are of the curious nature 

 called "polygamous;" some, that is to say, are bisexual, others are 

 only male, others are only female. The pistil, when present, is very 



