A STUDY OF YOUNG LIMES. 247 
not droop, except at their sides and tips. They 
are thrown out almost horizontally, arched, and 
rounded, convex above, concave towards us; and 
as we look up we can prove their transparency ; 
for we can see distinctly the forms of some ants 
which are crossing the arched upper sides. The 
sunlight increases the transparency, and. shows us 
the beautifully reticulated veins of the leaves. 
Here, indeed, as we come to this minute examina- 
tion, we shall find singular beauty, worthy of the 
few moments of our attention which it demands. 
Branching on each of its sides from the mid- 
vein—which commencing at the top of the leaf- 
stalk proceeds in an almost straight line to the 
leafy apex—are several primary veins which, 
making an acute angle with the mid-vein, 
continue thence to the sharply serrated leaf 
margin. The longest of these branch veins are 
the lowermost, which start from the apex of the 
leaf-stalk ; and these give off veinlets from their 
lower side, these veinlets being again branched, 
and the branches forked near the leaf margin. 
The next pair of primary veins are also branched 
on their lower side, but much less than the ones just 
