THE RIPE FRllT OF A MAXGO. 215 



The Mango (Jig. 1.) is an oblong, rather kidney- 

 shaped fruit, composed of an external succulent flesh 

 (Jig. 2. and 2. * b.), adhering to a fibrous woody shell 

 (Jig. 2. and 2. * a.), lined by a hard, homogeneous, brittle 

 crust {Jig. 2. * e.) ; the whole enclosing the seed 



The flesh, shell, and crust, taken together, are the 

 pericarp. They are connected by a prodigious multi- 

 tude of fibres, which pass from the shell into the flesh, 

 where they lose themselves. The flesh and crust are a 

 continuation of the bark of a branch (Jig, 2. <i.), the 

 shell of the wood (Jig. 2. c), in the organic qualities 

 of which they respectively participate. 



The pericarp is theoretically analogous to a leaf 

 rolled inwards, till its edges touch and grow together, 

 so as to form a hollow case. The flesh is analogous to 

 the parenchyma of the lower surface of the leaf, the shell 

 to the veins, the crust to the parench}Tna of the upper 

 surface. The parenchyma of the leaf is an extension 

 of the bark of the branch, and the veins of the wood, 

 in the organic qualities of which they likewise parti- 

 cipate. 



In a leaf the veins convey liquid food from the 

 wood, and deposit it in the parenchjTna, where it is 

 digested and altered, and whence it is slowly filtered 

 back into the bark of the branch, which it descends. 

 In the Mango fi'uit the liquid food is conveyed fi-om 

 the wood into the pericai-p by the fibres of the shell, 

 which pour it forth by their thousand mouths into 

 the parenchyma, to be therein digested and altered ; 

 but in consequence of the narro\Miess of the stalk, the 



