The Glow-Worm and Other Beetles 



trunk of a dead poplar, riddled, to a height 

 of several yards, with an infinite number of 

 round holes the diameter of a pencil. The 

 precious pole, still standing, is uprooted with 

 due respect, in view of my designs, and car- 

 ried into my study, where it is sawn into 

 longitudinal sections planed smooth. 



The wood, while retaining its structure, 

 has been greatly softened by the presence of 

 the mycelium of a mushroom, the agaric of 

 the poplar. The inside is decayed. The 

 outer layers, to a depth of over four inches, 

 are in good condition, save for the innumer- 

 able curved passages that cut through them. 

 In a section involving the whole diameter of 

 the trunk, the galleries of the late occupant 

 produce a pleasing effect, of which a sheaf of 

 corn gives us a pretty faithful image. Al- 

 most straight, parallel with one another and 

 assembled in a bundle down the middle, they 

 diverge at the top and spread into a cluster 

 of wide curves, each of which ends in one 

 of the holes on the surface. It is a sheaf of 

 passages which has not the single head of a 

 sheaf of corn, but shoots its innumerable 

 sprouts hither and thither, at all heights. 



I am enraptured by this magnificent speci- 

 men. The curves, of which I uncover a 

 layer at every stroke of the plane, far ex- 



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