convey the moisture that may fall upon them to their roots. In tropical countries leaves grow large and broad, as the tallipot palm of Ceylon, whose single leaf often affords covering for a whole family.

Fig. 12.

6. Sometimes leaves present very singular forms, as those of several species of pitcher-plants, some of which have connected with them complete vases, with a nicely fitting lid or cover. Many of these plants are found in Southern Asia. The cup of the Chinese pitcher-plant holds about a tumblerful of sap, which is poured out from its inner side. This plant is quite common in Ceylon, where it is called monkey-cup, because the monkeys sometimes open the lid and drink the water. (Fig. 12.)

7. In India there is also a climbing stem of a species of the pitcher-plant, one hundred feet long, and destitute of leaves till near the extrem

ity, so that it seems impossible that it should receive its nourishment from the ground by absorption.10 This

Fig. 12.-At 1 is a species of Dischidia, in which the pitcher is at the end of the stem, which grows through the leaf. At 2 is the Nepenthes distillatoria, the true pitcher-plant of India. The pitcher is at the end of an extension of the midrib of the leaf. At 3 is the Sarracenia purpurea, the American side-saddle flower, in which a leaf, collapsing and uniting at its edges, forms the pitcher. At 4 is also a species of the Nepenthes, often called the Chinese pitcher-plant. The lid is generally shut down.

10

I. SIMPLE LEAVES.-At 1 is what is called a linear leaf. It is also parallel-veined, like Nos. 21, 23, and 24, showing that it belongs to the plants which have but one co-tyl-e'don, or seed-leaf. At 2 is a lan'-ce-o-late leaf; 3, el-lip'-tic-al leaf: 4, o'-vate; 5, oblan'-ce-o-late; 6, ob-o'-vate; 7, cù'-ne-ate, or wedge-shaped; 8, spat'-u-late; 9, au-ric'u-late, or eared, and sag'-it-tate when the ears are pointed and turned downward; 10, has'-tate, or spear-shaped.

12

13

16

$13

At 11 is a leaf that is both o'-v..te and a-c te'; 12 is cord'-ate, or heart-shaped; 13, ren'-i-form, or kidney-shaped; 14, pelt'-ate, or shield-shaped, and also or-bic'--lar; 15, lobed, or pinnately-lobed; 16, pinnately-cleft; 17, pinnately-parted; 18, pinnately-di

vided.

plant has a pitcher or cup, but without any lid, formed of a leaf with its edges rolled toward each other till they meet and adhere,11 while the upper part, from which it is suspended, is open to receive the rain or dew.

Fig. 13.

8. This pitcher always contains a fluid, composed of the sap of the plant and water, in which a number of black ants and flies are generally seen. It is supposed that by their decomposition 12 the plant is nourished. A still more wonderful appearance is presented by a tuft of fibres,

hanging from the branch, and dipping into the pitcher, apparently for a new supply of aliment.13 (Fig. 13.)

Fig. 14.

9. A very singular plant grows in North and South Carolina, on the Cape Fear and Santee rivers, which is especially adapted to catching flies, and hence is called a fly-trap. The trap is open when the sun shines, ready, as soon as a fly touches any of the long hairs within its leaves, to close suddenly, and hold it fast until its struggles are over, when it slowly opens for another victim. The locality of this vegetable wonder, a drawing of which is here given, is confined to the region of the rivers named above, nor is it

found in any other part of the world. (Fig. 14.)

Fig. 13 is the Dischidia rafflesiana of Asia, in which the pitcher is a leaf united at its edges. This pitcher has no lid.

Fig. 14 is the Venus fly-trap, Dionaea muscipula, of Carolina. At a and b are flies, caught by the sudden closing of this singular leaf-trap.

II. COMPOUND LEAVES.-At 19 are pinnate leaves, or those in which the leaflets are arranged on the sides of a main leaf-stalk. Pal'-mate or dig'-it-ate leaves are those in

10. At night many leaves assume a drooping position, owing to the withdrawal of the stimulus1 of light. This folding of the leaves is commonly called the sleep of plants. It is especially noticed in those of clover, and in peas and other pod-bearing plants. Even the foliage of trees with compound leaves or leaflets, as the locust, manifests15 this folding of the leaves in sleep. If kept in the dark all day, the sleeping leaves are not aroused, but they are sensitive to artificial light at night. Plants of different species assume different positions at night, but the position is constant for those of the same species.

11. All deciduous leaves change their color in autumn. The green color becomes of a golden or crimson tint, changing to a russet,16 and often presenting the most beautiful and gorgeous appearance. American forests, especially those in which the maple is abundant, are said to excel, in this respect, those of the Old World. An English lady-tourist is said to have been so delighted with the dazzling splendor of American forest leaves in autumn that she procured a supply to ornament a ball-dress, to

"Deck the gay halls

Of her far distant home."

12. As swans are said to sing most sweetly just before they die; as some species of fish exhibit the richest colors as they expire; as soap-bubbles assume the brightest rainbow

which the leaflets are borne on the very tip of the leaf-stalk, as at 20. At 21 is a perfo'-li-ate leaf; and at 22 one that is connate-perfoliate. Eq'-ui-tant leaves, as at 23, are those which partly inclose or straddle over each other. At 24 the leaves are whorled, or arranged around the stem on the same level; and at 25 they are opposite each other. Particular terms are also used to designate the forms of the a'-pex, or end of the leaf, as at a it is acuminate; b, acute; c, obtuse; d, truncate; e, emarginate, or notched; when deeply notched, it is ob-cord'-ate; g, sharp-pointed, is cusp'-i-date; h, short-pointed, is mi-cro-nate.

25

27

28

29

30 31 32 33 34 35 At 26 is a three-lobed leaf; 27, three-cleft; 28, three-parted; 29, three-divided, or palmately-divided.

The various forms of the margins of leaves are also indicated by particular terms. When their general outline is completely filled out, they are said to be entire; 30 is ser'rate, or saw-toothed; 31, simply dent'-ate, or toothed; 32, cre'-nate, or scalloped ; 33, repand', or wavy; 34, sin'-u-ate, having deeper curves than the repand; 35, in-cis'ed, which means cut, or jag'-ged.

tints the instant before they vanish in thin air, so leaves take on their most beautiful dyes1 in the cool autumn days, "the saddest of the year."

"Has it come'? the time to fade'?

And with a murmured sigh,

The maple, in his scarlet robe,

Was first to make reply."

13. This change is not necessarily effected by cold, for it often appears before the earliest frost, and is premonitory 18 of the fall of the leaf. One by one they fall, till, as Coleridge has so prettily sung, there is seen but

"The one red leaf, the last of its clan,
That dances as often as dance it can;
Hanging so light, and hanging so high,

On the topmost bough that looks up at the sky."

14. But, according to Byron, in his description of an En glish autumn,

"What is lost in green is gained in yellow;"

and Southey could see a pleasant sign of coming Christmas in "These fading leaves,

LESSON IX.

THE ANGEL OF THE LEAVES; AN ALLEGORY.

[An allegory is a species of fable, in which one thing is described by something else that resembles it. We have a fine example of an allegory in the eightieth Psalm, in which God's chosen people are represented by a vineyard. In the following allegory the desponding, sorrowing, and afflicted soul, mourning its desolation, but afterward cheered by the gracious promises of our heavenly Father, is described by the fable of the tree in autumn, stripped of its leaves, chilled by the cold, and pelted by the storm, but cheered by the angel of the leaves with the promise of a new robe when spring shall return again.]

1. "ALAS! alas!" said the sorrowful tree, "my beautiful robe is gone! It has been torn from me. Its faded pieces whirl upon the wind; they rustle beneath the squirrel's foot as he searches for his nut. They float upon the passing stream and the quivering lake. Woe is me! for my fair, green vesture1 is gone. It was the gift of the angel of the leaves! I have lost it, and my glory has vanished; my beauty has disappeared. My summer hours have passed away. My bright and comely2 garment, alas! it is rent in a thousand parts.

2. "Who will weave me such another? Piece by piece it has been stripped from me. Scarcely did I sigh for the loss of one ere another wandered off on the air. The sound of music cheers me no more. The birds that sang in my