c 80 : 



BEAUTIFUL FUNGI 



September 1, 1856. With R. W. E[merson] to 

 Saw Mill [Brook]. We go admiring the pure and deli- 

 cate tints of fungi on the surface of the damp swamp 

 there, following up along the north side of the brook. 

 There are many very beautiful lemon-yellow ones 

 of various forms, some shaped like buttons, some 

 becoming finely scalloped on the edge, some club- 

 shaped and hollow, of the most delicate and rare but 

 decided tints, contrasting well with the decaying 

 leaves about them. There are others also pure white, 

 others a wholesome red, others brown, and some 

 even a light indigo-blue above and beneath and 

 throughout. When colors come to be taught in the 

 schools, as they should be, both the prism (or the 

 rainbow) and these fungi should be used by way of 

 illustration, and if the pupil does not learn colors, 

 he may learn fungi, which perhaps is better. You 

 almost envy the wood frogs and toads that hop amid 

 such gems, — some pure and bright enough for a 

 breastpin. Out of every crevice between the dead 

 leaves oozes some vehicle of color, the unspent 

 wealth of the year. 



Journal, ix, 50, 51. 



