18 VOICES FROM THE WOODLANDS. 



l)leak hills, and hence, to defend the seed-vessel from the 

 injury of the weather, it is covered with a cone-shaped 

 umbrella. This appendage, when the seeds begin to ripen, 

 loosens from the place to which it had hitherto been firmly 

 fixed, and falls off; the stem, also, which upholds the seed- 

 vessel and its elegant appendage, remains in a reversed 

 position, till the seeds are fallen to the ground. 



Few, perchance, have seen another of our tribe, the 

 shining feather-moss, that vegetable glow-worm, which 

 sheds a golden green light in the shady recesses of damp 

 caves, glimmering like a fairy lamp, fabled to light the 

 tiny people in their nightly revels. Yet, not less strange 

 than true is this wondrous property, and which, when seen 

 by him who explores, for the first time, lone caverns in 

 solitary places, awakens somewhat of a feeling akin to fear. 

 This property, peculiar to our tribe, has no parallel in the 

 vegetable kingdom. It cannot be referred to electricity, 

 neither does it originate from any luminous quality in the 

 plant itself. It is caused by rays of light, however faint, 



