AGAR1CUS RACHODES 



SHOWING GILLS AND 



ANNULUS 



DAYS IN MY GARDEN 



wonders. Hardened we must be if we are not 

 amazed at its power and rapidity, when we watch for 

 a few days a group of toadstools. 



As if by magic, suddenly from the dry earth, 

 appears a sepia-coloured knob that whitens, and ere 



a few days have gone 

 has thrust its snow- 

 white mass up like an 

 opening parasol, edged 

 with soft laced frill, 

 its rounded dome trim- 

 med with brown tabs 

 of skin curled like a 

 barrister's wig, its sur- 

 face between softer than 

 a bunny's throat ; while 

 underneath full three 



hundred clean-cut knife-edged radial gills spread 

 around its smooth white stalk, ringed midway with 

 its frilled annulus. And this, all this intricate beauty 

 and more than I can tell, has sprung as it were from 

 nothing, just while we count the hours a wizard's 

 whim, a conjuring trick, a miracle revealing a 



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