162 PROSERPINA. 



and volute of the flower, each separate piece of the husk is 

 called a 'carpel.' The name was first given by De Candolle, 

 arid must be retained. But it Continually happens that a sim- 

 ple husk divides into two parts corresponding to the two 

 leaves of the embryo, as in the peach, or symmetrically hold- 

 ing alternate seeds, as in the pea. The beautiful drawing of 

 the pea-shell with its seeds, in Kousseau's botany, is the only 

 one I have seen which rightly shows and expresses this arrange- 

 ment. 



14. A Fruit is either the husk, receptacle, petal, or other 

 part of a flower external to the seed, in which chemical changes 

 have taken place, fitting it for the most part to become pleas- 

 ant and healthful food for man, or other living animals ; but 

 in some cases making it bitter or poisonous to them, and the 

 enjoyment of it depraved or deadly. But, as far as we know, 

 it is without any definite office to the seed it contains ; and 

 the change takes place entirely to fit the plant to the service 

 of animals.* 



In its perfection, the Fruit Gift is limited to a temperate 

 zone, of which the polar limit is marked by the strawberry, and 

 the equatorial by the orange. The more arctic regions produce 

 even the smallest kinds of fruit with difficulty ; and the more 

 equatorial, in coarse, oleaginous, or over-luscious masses. 



15. All the most perfect fruits are developed from exquisite 

 forms either of foliage or flower. The vine leaf, in its generally 

 decorative power, is the most important, both in life and in 

 art, of all that shade the habitations of men. The olive leaf is, 

 without any rival, the most beautiful of the leaves of timber 

 trees ; and its blossom, though minute, of extreme beauty. 

 The apple is essentially the fruit of the rose, and the peach of 

 her only rival in her own colour. The cherry and orange 

 blossom are the two types of floral snow. 



* A most singular sign of this function is given to the chemistry of 

 the changes, according to a French botanist, to whose carefully and 

 richly illustrated volume I shall in future often refer my readers. 

 " Vers 1'epoque de la maturite, les fruits exJialent de Vacide carbonique. 

 Us ne presentent plus des lors aucun degagement d'oxygene pendant 1 

 jour, et resptrent, pour ainsi dire, a la faqon des animaux" (Figuier, 

 'Histoire des Plantes,' p. 182. 8vo. Paris. Hachette, 1874.) 



