178 BOULDER REVERIES. 



or cap of each is three to eight inches across. 

 Oftentimes when in the prime of life the center 

 of the upper side is a smoky brown; all else 

 being a rich orange yellow. Between the nu- 

 ineroiis spore-bearing lips or lamellae on the 

 under side, a half dozen or more species of 

 beetles have their home, and oftentimes the stem 

 is honey-combed with their grubs or young. 

 These feed upon the luscious juices of the fun- 

 gus, and as it dies and dries they enter the 

 pupal stage, from which time brings them forth 

 as imagoes, ready to seek a new home in another 

 clump of the same fungus, which a gentle rain 

 or two will cause to spring up from the angles 

 of some neighboring stump. Children of a 

 night, these orange fungi, called into life in 

 July or August time, by warmth and moisture ; 

 changing oaken fiber, long since dead and dry, 

 into food for beetles' use, and gracing, mean- 

 while, the shores of this woodland stream with 

 their attractive form and hue. 



As I approach another pool, the minnows 

 therein see me before I catch a glimpse of them. 

 Even the semblance of my shadow, reflected 



