AUTUMN 119 



that they injured vegetation. In this they 

 differ from the insects that depredate among 

 the leaves ; and the dependence of animals 

 on plants is painfully, exasperatingly ob- 

 vious to any one who tries to raise the 

 latter. It is the killing and exile of our 

 birds, no doubt, that have caused such an 

 alarming increase in vermin weeds of 

 the animal kingdom, creatures whose use 

 has not been discovered. Animal life is 

 in plant life everywhere. You find worms 

 curled in the spore-cups of lichens. 



I once found a shelf fungus draped with 

 curling white threads, and wondered if 

 they could be strings of loosening spores ; 

 but on breaking it open, I found grubs in- 

 side. The strings were their excreta. And 

 even in water I have found earth-worms, 

 though how long they had been there I 

 don't know. Our water-hyacinth fell into 

 a rusty aspect; but it doubled its blooms 

 after I had taken it out of the jardiniere 

 that served as a tank for it and culled away 

 full half its substance in dead leaves, blad- 

 ders, and a few of the long, feather-like 

 roots. It was in this process that I dis- 



