IV. THE FLOWER. 93 



only cut into their edges here and there, for 

 ornamentation's sake. 



22. And, finally, though the corolla is essentially 

 the floral group of leaves, and usually receives the 

 glory of colour for itself only, this glory and delight 

 may be given to any other part of the group ; 

 and, as if to show us that there is no really dis- 

 honoured or degraded membership, the stalks and 

 leaves in some plants, near the blossom, flush in 

 sympathy with it, and become themselves a part 

 of the effectively visible flower; — Eryngo — Jura 

 hyacinth, (comosus,) and the edges of upper stems 

 and leaves in many plants ; while others, (Geranium 

 lucidum,) are made to delight us with their leaves 

 rather than their blossoms ; only I suppose, in 

 these, the scarlet leaf colour is a kind of early 

 autumnal glow, — a beautiful hectic, and foretaste, 

 in sacred youth, of sacred death. 



I observe, among the speculations of modern 

 science, several, lately, not uningenious, and highly 

 industrious, on the subject of the relation of colour 

 in flowers, to insects — to selective development, 

 etc., etc. There are such relations, of course. So 

 also, the blush of a girl, when she first perceives 

 the faltering in her lover's step as he draws near, 

 is related essentially to the existing state of her 

 stomach ; and to the state of it through all the 



