RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST AROUND KANSAS CITY. 445 
scent of this vegetable, but are not aware of the source from whence it comes, 
thinking that it is the perfume of some wild flower. This large and curious race 
of vegetation (the fungi) has met with but little attention from naturalists in this 
country. A contemptuous kick, and the epithet of ‘‘toadstool’”’ is generally the 
best treatment they receive. Yet, in these lowly forms are many of rare beauty 
of color and delicacy of organization, many valuable for their medicinal qualities, 
and many prized by epicures as an esculent. The difficulty of keeping them after 
being gathered, and the poisonous qualities of some, are the principal causes of 
this neglect. But while some are pleasant to the eye and taste, others are of a di- 
rectly opposite nature. In an old meadow in this vicinity we once met with a 
fine specimen of the Phadloidei—well named zmpudicus, a curious freak of nature 
which once seen or sme/¢ can never be forgotton. It is of round, obelisk form, about 
eight inches in height, and from a hole in the top exudes a greenish fluid which 
has the smell of putrid flesh, scenting the air with its disgusting odor for many 
rods in its vicinity. Fortunately they are not plentiful, or they would be an un- 
mitigated nuisance. The Cottonwood (Populus Canadensis) is par excellence the 
pioneer of vegetation. Its light cottony seeds are borne far and wide by the 
winds, and wherever they can find a lodgment they take root and flourish. Let 
but a tiny strip of sand bar show its surface above the water and it is preémpted 
by the Cottonwood and its humble companion the willow (sadx longifolia). 
Their foliage arrests the wind-drifted sands, the ground rises around them, and 
soon another island is wrested from the river. Far out on the plains in lonely ra- 
vines and on barren hillsides this tree may be found bravely battling with the ele- 
ments of wind, fire and lightning, and though often scarred and broken, it gener- 
ally manages to hold its ground. Then the birds come and rest in its branches, 
bringing other seeds, and soon a little grove springs up around it, overshadowing 
a pool of water—a veritable oasis in the desert. Although its timber is not as 
lasting and useful as the pine, it is an excellent substitute on the prairies of the 
West. . It is of quick growth, attains a large size and may be planted aud utilized 
while more lasting timber of slower growth is comingon. The young shoots and 
buds are excellent food for cattle and horses, and the Indians often save their 
ponies in hard winters by driving them into cottonwood bottoms and felling the 
young trees for them to feed upon. But the insatiable demands of civilization 
are fast using up the noble cottonwood forests of our river bottoms, denuding 
the banks of their protecting care and leaving them a prey to the ravages of the 
current. | 
Crossing the bottom, scarred and seared with the traces of the great flood of 
1844, when the Missouri resumed its ancient bed and ran from bluff to bluff, 
twenty feet deep on these low lands, we come to the hills on the northern side. 
At the extreme foot of these hills the collector will find a layer of shale from 
which many good specimens of fossil ferns of various species can be obtained. 
The shale is rather soft and must be carefully dried in the shade, then painted 
_ with some light transparent varnish to save the specimens in good condition. A 
