MOISTURE-LOVING PLANTS. 171 



ago, or were blown here o'er the surface of the 

 snow by some December blast. Taking root 

 in the limy soil and sending down their fibrous 

 rootlets to the lasting supply of water, they 

 flourish, giving shelter to many a bird by night 

 or on wintry days, and adding meanwhile a 

 tinge of green to the old pasture, especially not- 

 able when all else is bare and brown and sere. 



Around a number of the springs which drip 

 into the stream from northward fronting banks, 

 flourishes the clearweed 3 with its pellucid stems ; 

 cool moisture and carbonate of lime being two 

 requirements of its growth. There, too, the 

 jewel weeds or wild touch-me-nots, 4 yellow and 

 orange, grow in profusion, opening their petals 

 to the sunshine of June and ripening their pods 

 before the frosts of September. 



In a deeper pool, a little farther down the 

 stream, a school of minnows, much smaller than 

 those above mentioned, are noted in the shallow 

 water near the shore. A hundred or more, pro- 

 geny, perhaps, of one mother, they move slowly, 

 close together, and either float midway between 



a Pilea pumila Gray. 



*Imvatiens pallida and /. fulva Nutt. 



