222 THE LOG OF THE SUN 



greens to the colourless life of a parasite, — ^hob- 

 nobbing with clammy toadstools and slimy lichens. 

 Its common names are all appropriate, — ^ice-plant, 

 ghost-flower, corpse-plant. 



Nevertheless it is a delicately beantiful crea- 

 tion, and we have no right to apply our hnman 

 standards of ethics to these children of the wild, 

 whose only chance of life is to seize every opportu- 

 nity, — ^to make use of each hint of easier existence. 



We have excellent descriptions and classifica- 

 tions of mushrooms and toadstools, but of the 

 actual life of these organisms, of the conditions 

 of their growth, little is known. Some of the 

 most hideous are delicious to our palate, some 

 of the most beautiful are certain death. The 

 splendid red and yellow amanita, which lights 

 up a dark spot in the woods like some flowering 

 orchid, is a veritable trap of death. Though 

 human beings have learned the fatal lesson and 

 leave it alone, the poor flies in the woods are 

 ever deceived by its brightness, or odour, and a 

 circle of their bodies upon the ground shows the 

 result of their ignorance. 



