190 A MISCHIEVOUS FAIRY 



"Isn't that Francis's Ghost-flower?" I asked 

 Tommy. 



" Yes, and it's also called Indian Pipe," he said. 

 " See, it has no real leaves, but these scaly things 

 on its stem take their places, and no doubt it likes 

 them just as much as fishes like their scales." 



While he touched it a tiny round bug, as white 

 as the flower, crawled out on his hand. 



" It must be the special bug for this flower," 

 Tommy said," and it is the same color as the 

 flower, so that other bugs won't see it and eat it 

 up. Let's put the Indian Pipe in water. If we 

 handle it much it will turn black. I think it's for 

 this reason that some people call it Corpse Plant." 



The other little wax-like flowers. Tommy called 

 Prince's Pine, or Spotted Pipsissewa. 



" They have relatives," he said, " with flesh- 

 colored flowers, whose leaves have not these white 

 lines. They don't bloom until later." 



Tommy thought I need not take either the 

 Ghost-flower or the Pipsissewa back to plant in 

 the woods, as from now on we would find more of 

 them. He didn't know the name of the queer 

 flower; neither did Grandmother, nor Herr Wil- 

 helm Fritz. We have pressed it in between thick 

 blotting papers and are saving it until Professor 

 Bonn comes again. Tommy thinks I may be 

 a discoverer. 



In the evening Grandmother said I must surely 

 tell the Ghost-flower story. Tommy and his 



