form and general appearance of the round mass of the tree, and approving it only when serving as a contrast, yet speaks of the specimens which stand alone at Bushey Park as 'superb.' Heartily as we agree with Gilpin in his keen appreciation not only of the loveliness of forest scenery in general, but in his particular admiration of the beautiful forms of individual trees, we cannot endorse his opinion of the Horse-Chestnut, either in respect of its trunk, its ramification, or its foliage. But it is our province here to speak only of its foliage.

In spring when its leaf is golden green, in summer when it has acquired a darker and a deeper tinge, and in Autumn when the departing green is set off by orange and yellow and golden brownit is beautiful: and the leaf of no tree is more beautifully symmetrical. From the apex of a leafstalk of varying length grow from five to seven large, pear-shaped leaflets attached at the same point and arranged in a circle or whorl around it. The base of each leaflet is narrowed towards the point of attachment to the common foot stalkand each leaflet has a straight prominent and

slightly curved mid-stem which runs from the base to the sharply-pointed apex. From each mid-vein a series of prominent, parallel branch veins run on each side to the serrated leaf margins, sometimes in opposite pairs and sometimes in alternation— the spaces between being almost equal to each other over the greater part of the leaf. Occasionally the parallelograms formed by the almost equidistant branch veins are traversed by short veinlets which fork from the latter; and occasionally, also, the normal division of each leaflet into two about equal parts by the mid-vein is varied-one part being distinctly smaller than the other.

The veins of leaves are always more prominent on the under sides of their surfaces than on the upper surfaces, and on the reverse of the HorseChestnut leaf not only can the mid-veins, and the branch parallel veins, be clearly seen, but the entire ramification can be traced without the aid of a glass. The venation is very elaborate and beautiful, the course of the veinlets, as they cross the parallels of tissue, being rendered particularly prominent by the thickening of the parts of

them adjacent to the branches from which they diverge.

The leaves of the Horse-Chestnut are variable in the hue and richness of their autumn colouring on different trees in different situations, even in the same season-the variations depending on soil and aspect and on the greater or less exposure of the tree to the action of the sun's rays. But oftentimes the display of colour in the early season of Autumn is very striking and beautiful. At first the deep green of summer is, with scarcely perceptible lightness, tinged at the tips of the leaves. It is merely a slight paling of the green. Soon the touch of invading brightness deepens in intensity -the pale green turning to golden brown at the tips, whilst the adjoining tissue near the mid-vein, and previously dark green, becomes slightly paler and finally takes a hue of golden brown. Sometimes the whole leaf is lightened in hue almost uniformly over its surface, every leaflet being equally affected. But frequently, yellow, orange, or golden brown, will advance down the tissue between the parallel spaces formed by the principal branch veins on one side only of a leaflet-it may

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be on the top of the right-hand side of the leaflet or at the bottom of the same side: or the new colouring may begin on the opposite side. Two or three parts of leaflets may be thus-though never uniformly-affected by the autumn colouring, whilst the others remain green and unaltered. The top of one leaflet and the base or sides of another may be tinted at the same time, though never in the same way. From their normal green the principal veinlets themselves will turn to russet or to brown, and a very beautiful contrast is afforded when the embrowned veins are surrounded by lines of deep green tissue. Oftentimes when the parallel veins themselves are russet or brown and nearly the whole surface of leaf-including the venules-in the spaces between them are also thus coloured, lines of tissue along on either side of the parallel veins will remain green, giving an appearance as of green stripes arranged diagonally, along on either side of the mid-vein. Russet spots will not unfrequently appear at the top, at the side or at the bottom of the leaflets upon the pervading golden brown, and at other times the same leaflet will

exhibit green lines of tissue and golden brown spotted with russet. But all these rich colours, very beautiful in the earliest part of the season of change, will merge into the uniformity of a dark brown hue in the stage preceding the final decay.

We must not

'Unnoticed pass

The Sycamore, capricious in attire;

Now green, now tawny, and ere Autumn yet

Has changed the woods, in scarlet honours bright.'

Frequently large and handsome, but various in size, the five-lobed, indented leaf of the Sycamore is remarkable for the beautiful character of its venation. From the top of its long leaf stalk a principal vein runs to the apex of each of its five lobes, and gives origin to curved and opposite or alternate branch veins which run to the margins of the lobes. On close examination of the surface of the tissue it will be seen that the roughly and unequally parallel spaces formed by these branches are crossed by veinlets which, running from branch to branch, divide the whole of the leafy tissue into small, irregularly-shaped spaces that are, in