ELM. 191 



marks the final stage of autumnal leafage. To 

 note in detail the almost endless variation from 

 what has been described would be impossible, so 

 let us pass on. 



The Elm leaf affords a pretty study, and is well 

 worthy of careful examination. Its most striking 

 peculiarity the inequality of its base is much 

 more strongly developed in some specimens 

 than in others. The principal vein, which con- 

 tinues the very short stalk, cannot be strictly 

 called its mid-vein because it divides the leaf into 

 two unequal parts, the base of one part extending 

 further down and along its side of the stalk than 

 the other and smaller part. The leaf" margins are 

 very prettily cut into small, sharp-pointed seg- 

 ments, or rather serratures, for the margins are 

 distinctly saw-edged though the serratures are of 

 two kinds, a smaller and more acute series running 

 between the larger series. Very prominent veins 

 branch on either side, and in alternation with 

 each other, from the principal vein, and run 

 straight to the points of the serratures or fork 

 near their apices one of the forks entering one of 



