THE FRUIT. 163 
eatable when it becomes mellow. But the great difference 
established between the ripening and mellowing of fruit is, 
that the latter state is only manifested when the skin of the 
fruit, being somewhat decayed, the air has been able to penetrate 
the cells of the pericarp, colouring them yellow, and partly 
destroying them. 
We need not mention here the important part played by fleshy 
fruit in the production of alimentary beverages. The juice of the 
grape, having undergone fermentation, becomes wine; the 
fermented juice of numerous varieties of apples and pears yield 
cyder and perry, and almost every known fruit yields its own 
peculiar product. 
It is in the fleshy fruits that we can most readily distinguish 
the three parts constituting the pericarp, that is to say, that 
portion of the fruit which forms the walls of the ovary. These 
three parts are, tracing them from outside, the epicarp (emi, 
“over,” kaozoc, “ fruit”), an epidermal membrane varying in 
thickness ;_ the mesocarp (uésoc, “middle,” kxapzoc, “fruit ”’), 
constituting ordinarily the flesh and pulp of the fruit; and the 
endocarp (évdov, “ inside,” kaoroc, “fruit”), often forming the 
kernel, but the consistency of which varies, as we shall soon see. 
As the ovary results from the physiological transformation of a 
leaf, and as the fruit is nothing but a ripened ovary, we may 
consider the epicarp and endocarp as representing the two 
epidermes of the leaf, and the mesocarp as the parenchyma of this 
original leaf. Most practical botanists only admit two classes of 
fleshy fruits, the drupe (stone fruit) and the berry. The Peach, 
Cherry, Plum, Medlar, and Cornel, are drupes; the Grape, 
Gooseberry, Apple, Orange, and Pomegranate, are berries. 
All these fruits are more or less fleshy or pulpy. They are 
besides indehiscent, but there are in drupes one or more kernels, 
which are wanting in berries. 
Let us first take a glance at the drupes. In the Peach, the 
Cherry, and the Plum, resulting from the ripening of a simple and 
Superior ovary, it is easy to distinguish three parts, first, an 
exterior skin, more or less thick, smooth, or hairy, or covered 
with a waxy secretion, known as the bloom; this is the epicarp : 
Second, a thick, pulpy, succulent flesh; this is the mesocarp : 
M 2 
