10 GOETHE ON THE METAMORPHOSIS OF PLANTS, 
however, the flowering-period have been checked by an excessive and 
superfluous degree of nourishment, they would have remained separate 
from each other, and would still have retained their original form. 
Nature, therefore, forms no new organ in the calyx, but simply unites 
and modifies those organs with whieh we are already aequainted, and 
advances by this means a step nearer to her object.* 
V. On the Formation of the Corolla. 
39. We have seen how the calyx is produced by highly-elaborated 
fluids, gradually generated in the plant; and in the same way the 
calyx itself is destined to become the organ of a future and further 
degree of elaboration, This will appear easy of belief if we take into 
consideration the purely mechanical nature of its operation. ‘The state 
of contraction and compression in which its vessels are now found, as 
shown above, renders them of an extremely delicate nature; and thus 
well adapts them for the process of a most elaborate filtration. 
40. The transition of the, calyx into the corolla is exhibited in va- 
rious ways; for although the general colour of the calyx usually re- 
mains green, like that of the stem-leaves, it often shows a change in 
One part or another, at the tips, the edges, or at the back, or over the 
whole of the inner surface, while the outer surface remains green; and 
Whenever this change of colour occurs, we see it combined with an in- 
creased refinement of texture. In this manner an ambiguous kind of 
calyx is produced, which might with equal propriety be called a co- 
rolla (perianth of Linnæus).+ 
* Wolff, Nov. Comm. Acad. Petrop. pp. 403, 1766, 1767 ; Linn. Prolepsis, § 6. 
The resemblance of sepals to leaves is well shown in Agrostemma Githago, some 
kinds of Rose, of Pæony, of Gentian, of Mesembryanthemum, ete.; while in the Ca- 
mellia, and a great number of other plants, the sepals are not arranged in a verticil- 
late manner, but are disposed in a spirally imbricated arrangement, as is commonly 
ps case with ordinary leaves. On the other hand, the whorled leaves of all the 
ellate, etc., may be adduced to show the similarity between such an arrangement, 
wi that which usually obtains in the calyx. Floral leaves, or bracts, are frequently 
a y to be distinguished from ordinary leaves by their position at the base of the 
of the: at other times the bracts gradually assume more and more of the appearance 
li eps as in Calycanthus, Berberis, Cactus, and others, in which no definite 
—— wen: between - M In Peganum and Cruckshanksia, € 
provided with sti . Few plants show the gradual passage o! 
— bracts and mr so well * Helleborus V etidus. 
ot i, nt Prolepsis, $ 8. The sepals of the white Water Lily, Nymphea alba, ave 
side. "The que colour on the outside, and of a white or pinkish hue on the inner 
Kc Ra tips of the sepals in the Helleborus fetidus ave of a purple colour ; and 
er Ranunculaceæ furnish instances of coloured ealyces in the Winter Aconite, 
Larkspur, Acouite, Columbi : de 
stance of the same thing. ne, Anemone, ete. The Fuchsia is a well-known in- 
