166 THE VEGETABLE WORLD. 
Thus, in this much-admired fruit, the eatable part does not 
belong to the mesocarp, as in the Cherry or Grape; we can only 
say that it belongs to the pericarp as an accessory, since we reject 
the three principal parts constituting this integument. The 
eatable part is an additional tissue, so to speak, which does not 
exist in other fruits. 
We see, by this example, how various is the structure of fruits, 
and what difficulties their study presents even on a limited scale. 
Here we must confine ourselves to a rapid sketch of some of the 
common fruits, whose diverse and peculiar appearance require @ 
few words of explanation. 
What constitutes the Strawberry? Is it that fleshy, succulent 
part essentially forming it, which is the fruit? Certainly not: 
the true fruits of the Strawberry (Fig. 246)—and they are very 
Fig. 216.—Strawberry. Fig. 247.—Raspberry. Fig. 248. Mulberry- 
numerous—are those little, brownish, dry, insipid grains, crunching 
between the teeth, which remain at the bottom of the vessel, 
mixed with small dark threads, when you beat up strawberries 
with wine. The little brownish grains are achenia, the sm 
dark threads are the styles of the withered flower. What we eat, 
then, in the Strawberry, is the receptacle, which is gradually filled 
with juices; it increases in size, pushes out the little acheenia, 
setting them into its parenchyme; it then assumes a rich colour 
as well as a most pleasant odour, and a sweet, aromatic, and 
slightly-acid flavour. 
In the Raspberry, on the contrary (Fig. 247), the receptacle is 
dry and bears several fruits, which, far from being achzenia, as in 
