204 AUTUMNAL LEAVES. 



painted with patches of colour which have not yet 

 changed into the uniformity of hue of the dead 

 season. 



The thin, hard, polished, oval and pointed leaf 

 of the Beech is like that of no other British forest 

 tree ; and amongst its peculiar characteristics is 

 its crackling texture which makes it feel, when 

 handled, more like thin metal than soft vegetable 

 tissue. Its crackling tendency is especially 

 noticeable in the autumnal leaves that have fallen 

 from the tree and lie dry and unmoistened beneath 

 it. Even more prominent than the venation of 

 the Elm is that of the Beech, the mid-rib, continu- 

 ing the short stem, giving origin, on each side of it, 

 to branch veins which run to the slightly waved 

 margin with marked regularity and in nearly 

 straight and parallel lines. Very often the opposite 

 branches start from the same point of the mid-vein 

 each opposite branch forming, with it, an acute 

 angle and giving a very symmetrical appearance 

 to the venation ; but more frequently opposite 

 vein branches proceed in alternation from the 

 central vein. There is a slight variation in the 

 character of the venation; the veins and branches 



