THE BEECH. 67 



daisy begin to shine in the garden, these are followed 

 by prickly pods the size of an acorn, and analogous 

 to acorns in structure. That part which in the 

 fruit of the oak, is a smooth-edged and hemispherical 

 cup, in the beech is four-valved, the valves recurving 

 like those of a chestnut ; the acorn itself is repre- 

 sented by a triangular brown nut, with margins 

 almost as sharp as the blade of a knife. In Spring 

 these three-cornered seeds are prone to sprout, and 

 among the mosses on the hedge-bank, beeches, like 

 children at play, are found beginning the world 

 anew. 



Beeches are not like oaks, the resort of many 

 living creatures ; the number of insects frequenting 

 them is comparative few, nor are these trees much 

 sought after by the nest-builders. A pleasing 

 association clings to the beech nevertheless, such 

 as we have with scarcely another, for as long as 

 children's voices are lovely to human souls, will be 

 their trill of " the woodpecker tapping the hollow 

 beech-tree." Naturalists find in connection with the 

 beech quite another class of objects, namely, fungi 

 of uncommon kinds, one in particular, which in 

 autumn appears upon the trunks, and from its re- 

 semblance to sprays of white coral, has been clas- 

 sically named Hydnum coralloides. The truffle, 

 precious to epicures, and the morel, another dainty 

 for the table, are also frequent inhabitants of the 

 beech- wood. So beautiful are the plans and mar- 



p 2 



