320 OBSERVATIONS ON VEGETABLES. 



the mouth of their own sloughs, and quit the tail part last, just 

 as eels are skinned by a cook maid. While the scales of the 

 eyes are ^ growing loose, and a new skin is forming, the 

 creature, in appearance, must be blind, and feel itself in an 

 awkward, uneasy situation. * 



OBSERVATIONS ON VEGETABLES. 

 TREES, ORDER OF LOSING THEIR LEAVES. 



ONE of the first trees that become naked is the walnut ; the 

 mulberry, the ash, especially if it bears many keys, and the 

 horse-chestnut come next. All lopped trees, while their heads 

 are young, carry their leaves a long while. Apple trees and 

 peaches remain green very late, often till the end of November ; 

 young beeches never cast their leaves till spring, till the new 

 leaves sprout and push them off : in the autumn, the beechen 

 leaves turn of a deep chestnut colour. Tall beeches cast their 

 leaves about the end of October. 



SIZE AND GROWTH. Mr Marsham of Stratton, near Nor- 

 wich, informs me by letter thus : "I became a planter 

 early ; so that an oak which I planted in 1 720 is become 

 now, at one foot from the earth, twelve feet six inches in 

 circumference, and, at fourteen feet, (the half of the timber 



* I have seen many sloughs, or skins of snakes, entire, after they have 

 cast them off; and, once in particular, I remember to have found one of 

 these sloughs so intricately interwoven amongst some brakes, that it was 

 with difficulty removed without being broken : this undoubtedly was done 

 by the creature to assist in getting rid of its encumbrance. 



I have great reason to suppose that the eft, or common lizard, also casts 

 its skin, or slough, but not entire like the snake ; for, on the 30th of 

 March, 1777, I saw one with something ragged hanging to it, which 

 appeared to be part of its old skin. MARKWICK. 



It has been found by Pallas, that, after leeches have been used for 

 medicinal purposes, they are most reproductive. He puts them into a 

 box with argillaceous earth, six inches deep, at any time from the middle 

 of August till the end of September. In five months, cocoons will be 

 found, each containing twelve individuals. The cocoons are, on the out- 

 side, light, porous, and wooly, to keep out moisture and regulate the tem- 

 perature. On the inside they are fibrous and dense, enclosing a thin 

 multilocular pellicle, which contains germs. ED. 



