IV. THE FLOWER. 73 



any rate, my Roman poppy knew what it was about, and 

 had its two couples of leaves in clear subordination, of 

 which at the time I went on to inquire farther, as follows. 



13. The next point is, what shape are the petals of ? 

 And that is easier asked than answered; for when you 

 pull them off, you find they won't lie flat, by any means, 

 but are each of them cups, or rather shells, themselves ; 

 and that it requires as much conchology as would describe 

 a cockle, before you can properly give account of a single 

 poppy leaf. Or of a siftgle any leaf for all leaves are 

 either shells, or boats, (or solid, if not hollow, masses,) and 

 cannot be represented in flat outline. But, laying these 

 as flat as they will lie on a sheet of paper, you will find 

 the piece they hide of the paper they lie on can be drawn ; 

 giving approximately the shape of the outer leaf as at A, 

 that of the inner as at B, Fig. 



4; which you will find very 

 difficult lines to draw, for they 

 are each composed of two 

 curves, joined, as in Fig. 5 ; all 

 above the line a b being the 

 outer edge of the leaf, but 

 joined so subtly to the side 

 that the least break in drawing 

 the line spoils the form. FlG 



14. Now every flower petal consists essentially of these 

 two parts, variously proportioned and outlined. It ex- 



