190 AUTUMNAL LEAVES. 



leafy surface as to give an indefinable sense of 

 richness without enabling the eye to detect where 

 the invading hue begins and where it ends. 

 Others will have their leafy lobes just touched 

 with the lighter colour, as if they were under the 

 rays of the sun; and the hue from its starting- 

 point spreads inwards, merging so insensibly into 

 the green that it is impossible to discover the line 

 of demarcation. Sometimes the upper half of a 

 leaf is dyed with a russet hue which ceases mid- 

 way, giving place to the normal green, or the 

 autumn tinting may be spread in larger or 

 smaller patches which are, so to speak, insulated 

 by the surrounding verdancy. It may take the 

 form of spots which, with never-ending irregu- 

 larity, are spread upon the green. Sometimes 

 one lobe of a leaf has changed to its autumnal 

 colour whilst all the other leaves are of a vivid 

 green hue. From these stages the process of 

 autumn tinting advances until the gold, or russet, 

 or orange, or bronze, or it may be red, colouring 

 has almost overspread the surface and driven out 

 the green which lingers until finally extinguished 

 by the prevalence of the dead uniformity that 



