408 ECOLOGY. 



and variabilis) stand to their necks in the water. The shore 

 near by is lined with sedges. Beyond these on the banks 

 are masses of the white and purple eupatorium, with a goodly 

 sprinkling of the swamp milkweed, its blossoms ablaze with 

 color, while a long bank of willows forms a background of satis- 

 fying green. 



717. Rowing up the stream, one passes in review minor for- 

 mations, which exhibit less regularity of distribution and fewer 

 individuals of one species. Pontederia still lingers along near 

 the shore, nearly touching the feet of the purple eupatorium on 

 the bank. The yellow water lily, in groups here and there, 

 points out the shallows, or traces the jutting arms of the shore, 

 which in the distance seem to intercept the course, and the 

 wavelets on the water toss into fantastic figures the mirrored 

 shrubs and trees. In the quiet nooks the sunlight blazes down 

 upon umbels of the blue cornel and the pendent fruit clusters 

 of the trailing nightshade. Banks of goldenrod are massed on 

 one hand, and here and there stand gorgeous clusters of the 

 arrow-leaved polygonum and of the yellow touch-me-not, while 

 every now and then the sickly, blighting form of the cuscuta 

 holds its victims in a crushing embrace. 



718. Successions of waves running along the sunny shore 

 throw lights and shadows, which chase each other up the trunks 

 of overhanging trees in the form of rings of sunlight and shade, 

 and then throw a quivering, shimmering light over the foliage. 

 Fallen trees stretch their weather-beaten and bleached trunks 

 over the stream, and their mirrored ghosts dance in the waves at 

 your approach, while the towering elms beyond, smothered in 

 the foliage and embrace of the poison ivy, add to the weird 

 beauty of the scene. 



