The chief differences between the two species are to be found in the matured fruits though, at first thought, it might appear that these are not greater than those found in widely separated varieties of either of the two species. The fruits of the peach and the almond are, however, much more widely separated than any of the varieties of either species, inasmuch as the differences are several and have to do with parts not usually affected by cultivation and not the subject of selection by the cultivator. Thus, the fruit of the peach is a delectable esculent; that of the almond inedible; the flesh of the peach, the mesocarp, is soft, fleshy, juicy; that of the almond thin, tough and leathery; the pit of the peach must be removed while that of the almond drops naturally from the hard flesh which splits at maturity. The differences between the pits of the two species are quite as marked as in the flesh of the fruit. The pit of the peach is deeply sculptured, pitted, and of a bone-like consistency; that of the almond is nearly smooth and in most varieties is much thinner and of softer texture. The differences in the kernels are such as could easily be brought about by selection, some peach-kernels being sweet and edible and some almond-kernels being too bitter to be palatable. Coming to the tree-characters we find that there are several which differ sufficiently to give each of the two fruits distinct specific rank. The winter aspect of the two trees is wholly different. The almond resembles a young apple tree in color of bark more than it does the peach and has, too, a head much like that of a broad-topped, much-branched apple. In foliage the distant aspect is much the same, but examined closely there are several distinctions that hold in comparing the two species. The leaves of the peach are more broadly lanceolate than those of the almond, coarsely serrate or crenate while the margins of almond-leaves are finely serrate. The glands on the leaf-stalk or leaf of the peach are globose, reniform or mixed; on the almond, the glands are globose. The flowers in the two species are similar but the time of flowering is markedly different. The color of the petals in both varies from pale pink to deep pink with occasional pure white forms; the flowers of true almonds are always large while those of the peach are about equally divided between large and small. The almond, in New York, is out of bloom before flowers of the peach appear, the difference in blooming-time being from one to three weeks. TREE- AND FRUIT-CHARACTERS OF THE PEACH