over with pufFballs looking as fresh as new-laid 

 eggs, as they poke out of the close-cropped turf. 

 Some species are thus eminently wholesome and 

 inviting, while others have a loathsome fungoid 

 personality and afFedt one like the sight of reptiles. 

 They express the fadt that they are of the lonioer 

 orders — the slimy world. Mushrooms are indeed 

 almost as varied in outline and color as flowers. 

 Red species of russula vie with the rose, with ripe 

 cherries, or the cheeks of Bartlett pears, while the 

 green russula is of richer, more velvety hue than 

 any unripe fruit. The grotesque forms of boleti 

 have a kind of fascination. One comes to distin- 

 guish minute differences and to cherish these odd 

 and sometimes graceful shapes, as a connoisseur 

 might his bronzes or antique vases. 



Many of the mosses are fruiting at this season, 

 but they, for the most part, belong to that mysteri- 

 ous and unfathomable world of the compound 

 microscope. Yet here are some, be it said with 

 joy, that so proclaim themselves as to be known 

 of all men. Such we can take home to us as 

 friends of our leisure and landmarks in our excur- 

 sions. These at least we have reclaimed from 

 science. In the shadowy sea of Latin names these 

 ii6 



