298 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE. 



from beneath a decaying' log among the 

 ferns at my feet. 



I poked my finger dee]) into the moist 

 sand and pulled up a queer little fungus 

 growing out of the head of a small chrys- 

 alis. The tip of the orange club with 

 its white patches plainly showed, even to 

 tin naked eve, that the fungus had reach- 



But this transformation is of course only 

 a poetic fancy. In reality, the larva fur- 

 nishes nourishment to the plant, which 

 the latter absorbs only for its own selfish 

 interests. The animal is helpless, but it 

 undergoes no transformation ; it dies 

 that the fungus may form, mature and 

 scatter its spores. 





MAGNIFIED VIEW OF THE FRUITING END OF THE FUNGUS. 



Showing spore clusters. 



( d the fruiting" stage. It was evident that 

 a spore from some parent fungus had 

 entered the larva and when the mycelium 

 or root-like threads had filled the interior 

 of the chrysalis and had sapped the life 



THE SPINES OF THE SEA URCHIN. 



The common sea urchin is an animal 

 so peculiar in many respects that a des- 

 cription of it would probably fill the 

 whole magazine and be so scientific that 



of its host the parasitic fungus had thrust the general reader would not care for it. 

 out the fruiting head in order to scatter 

 its spores on the wind 



It is rare for one person twice in a 

 lifetime to chance on this shy little fun- 

 gus, which the scientists call Cordyceps 

 militaris, but it was my good fortune to 

 find the same species in the summer of 

 [903. I believe that it then had a larva 

 of the same kind for its habitat, which 

 helps prove that this little parasite has 

 cultivated a very selective habit. It is 

 truly marvelous that Mother Nature can 

 lodge a wind blown spore upon an un- 

 suspecting larva and with one of her 

 magic touches seem to transform a sleep- 

 ing moth into a brilliant yellow fungus. 



The usual urchin found along the Atlan- 

 tic coast of the United States is nearly 

 hemispherical in shape and has the 

 mouth near the center of the lower, fiat 

 surface, where are also placed the many 

 little projections that it uses as feet and 

 with which it slowly crawls over the 

 sand in search of seaweeds, bits of dead 

 fish and other favorite food. 



The upper surface of the animal is 

 covered with stiff spines almost as hard 

 as stone but which yet have an internal 

 structure that is wonderfully curious 

 and, under the microscope, wonderfully 

 beautiful. But to show- this internal ar- 

 rangement, the spine must be cut across 



