and almost endless tints which it wears during the course of the year. But the variations of colour assumed during the early period of leafage U and during the various stages of fruition by this charming plant, are far exceeded by the diversity of its autumnal hues. To describe the form and venation of the Bramble leaf may scarcely seem necessary, so 'common' is the shrub. Yet perhaps few plants are so little noticed as this by reason of its commonness;' and we may, at least, say that the three, four, or five leaflets of which its leaf is composed are well worthy of minute examination. From the general pear-shaped form the leaflets vary much, being sometimes much broader than they are at other times; sometimes more or less pointed at the apex; sometimes slightly depressed at the apex, and now and then nearly round in general form. Occasionally, and indeed not unfrequently, a leaf will be found to possess two normal leaflets and an abnormal or double leaflet, or one normal leaflet and two double leaflets; or, it may be, three normal leaflets and one double leaflet. The margins of the leaflets do not much differ in the character of their serratures, which are ordinarily acute and almost spinous. From the mid-vein, slightly waved branches run, on |