THE "TUBE" AND THE "LIMB? 215 



bear less and less resemblance to a leaf. Thus, the part which 

 comes next is semi-bearded ; that is to say, it is furnished with 

 foliaceous appendages only on one side ; and the two upper 

 pieces are beardless^ that is, reduced to the dilated central 

 vein. 



It was these metamorphic forms of the free portion of the 

 calicinal foliola (united below) of the rose, which originated 

 a well-known enigma, conveyed in the following Latin dis- 

 tich : 



" Quique sumus fratres, unus barbatus et alter, 

 Imberbes duo, sum semi-berbes duo, sum semi-berbes ego." 



("We are brothers, both bearded, two beardless ; I am two half-bearded, 

 and I myself am half -bearded.") 



They are specially noticeable in a variety of the Rose of 

 Bengal, in which all the petals seem to be transformed into 

 calicinal leaves. (Fig 44.) 



The part of the calyx formed by the union of the sepals is 

 called the tube: it is invariably the lower part. The upper 

 portion, where the sepals are free, is the limb. 



Throughout the vegetable kingdom you will not find a 

 calyx in which the union of the sepals takes place at the 

 top. 



This time, at all events, we have found what is exclusively 

 rare in nature a rule without an exception. 



Generally, it is almost impossible to disunite, without rend- 

 ing, the foliola composing the tube of the calyx, their union is 



