ATTRACTIVE COLORS OF NATURE. 183 



On these sunny August days the sulphur- 

 yellow butterflies seek the moist sands along the 

 margins of the stream, sometimes a score or 

 more in company. They hover over one an- 

 other, then settle down and sip the moisture; 

 then arise and drift away on the passing breeze. 



To the naturalist any bright bit of color is 

 always attractive. In summer it may be any- 

 thing but green, in late autumn anything but 

 brown, in the snow-present days of winter any- 

 thing but white. To-day a bit of scarlet on the 

 hillside just above the brooklet's rim shines out 

 from amidst the green of the blue-grass. An 

 investigation discloses the cylindrical fruiting 

 spike of the Indian turnip. In shape it re- 

 sembles a short nubbin of corn with bright scar- 

 let grains. There are sixteen irregular rows of 

 the fruit. Some of the berries, for that is what 

 they really are, are quite small and imperfectly 

 developed, but the great majority are plump and 

 in shape resemble roughly a grain of corn; the 

 outer end being more rounded. Each berry con- 

 tains a single globular, hard, whitish seed, al- 

 most half the size of a pea. This is surrounded 



