80 SYLVAN WINTER. 



seen in its wild state, of theBox. Things of beauty, 

 too, are the opening leaves of Primroses, which in 

 sheltered corners of the woodland, even when the 

 thermometer is at zero, are oftentimes fresh and 

 delightful. Looked at casually, primrose-leaves in 

 mid- Winter are refreshingly suggestive of light 

 verdancy ; but examined more closely, we can dis- 

 cern thebeautiful and appropriate fashioning of the 

 leafy covering. The white, or faintly-green-white of 

 the thick and fleshy leaf-stalk, and the crumpled 

 surface of the leafy portion — as yet, in the inci- 

 pient leaves we are examining, not fully expanded 

 — would be noticed by the least observant : but 

 the tiny leaf deserves a closer examination. 

 Looking at it with a glass, one is struck by the 

 symmetrical regularity of the entire under-surface 

 of stalk and stem, or midvein, and of the veins 

 which branch from it. The crumpled, leafy edge 

 is bent under, all round. What is especially 

 noticeable, is the prominent way in which, in the 

 under-surfaces of the leaves, the veins stand out, 

 and, crossing and interlacing each other, leave 

 distinct hollows or depressions, the spaces between 

 which are densely clothed, as well as are the rib- 



