132 VOICES FROM THE WOODLANDS. 



minute, black, roundish, convex, and dotted fungus, 

 growing in masses, and first discovered on an old ash-tree 

 by the footway between Thornbury and Alveston, and on 

 one overhanging the road leading up the first hill between 

 Queen's- ferry and Edinburgh. 



This small and homely fungus is wondrously constructed, 

 and presents in its interior a number of concentric layers, 

 composed of minute tubes or threads pointing from the 

 centre; the seed-vessels are scarcely visible, but when 

 ripe they emit a large quantity of black powder. Yet, 

 however unsightly, it forms the garner of an apparently 

 weak creature, which is nevertheless endowed with sufficient 

 strength to make its way through a deal board ; and that, 

 not by softening the hard substance, but by the aid of its 

 strong teeth : a degree of strength which, if possessed by 

 the horse or elephant, in accordance with their proportions, 

 would enable them to uproot the strongest and stateliest 

 oak that ever breasted the storms of winter. 



