228 Of Vegetables. 
the duplicature of the fkin quite through the ftone ; and 
at e f, fig 446. is fhewn the branches which run through 
the ftone to the flower and feed, in a well grown apricock 
cut lengthwife. 
The outermoft of thefe membranes takes its rife from 
the parenchyma, and furrounds the feed branch, and upon 
its entrance into the hollow of the ftone is expanded into 
two bladders, one within the other; whereof one be¬ 
comes the lining; of the ftone, the other the outer mem- 
brane, and is beft feen on cutting a young apricock when 
it is about half an inch long through the middle, or from 
the feat of the flower to the ftalk, between the two lips 
a b, fig. 443. At this age the outer membrane hath a 
full and firm body, and is compofed of bladders, as may 
be plainly feen on its application to the microfcope. 
The vcftels contained in the feed branch, are diftri- 
buted throughout this membrane, beginning a little below 
its fmaller end, and running round both ways, meet in 
the middle of the greater, where they are all inofculated 
and form a kind of umbelical node, as at a, fig. 445. from 
whence they ftrike deeper into it till they arrive at the middle 
membrane, where they become invlfible; thefe veflels con¬ 
vey the fap to the middle membrane, whole bladders are 
more angular and amplified towards the center, being atleaft 
two hundred 2 times bigger than thofe of the outer membrane. 
This middle membrane is fo called from the ftate and 
condition it hath upon the augmentation of the feed, at 
which time it obtains the name of an involucrum a , but. 
originally is every where entire without any hollow, 
filling up the cavity of the outer membrane like a foft 
and delicate pulp. After a ihort time a fmail channel 
appears therein, running from the bottom to the top; at 
firft no wider than to receive a. human hair, and then 
only 
z Grew. An, Plan, p, 210. 8 Ibid. 
