APRIL. 83 



glad to turn away and gather nodding spikes of white 

 Cassandra. These, with the beautiful seed-pods of the 

 stagger bush and needle-like foliage of the pine beauty, 

 made for me a noTel nosegay, which I carried until fresh 

 novelties paled their prettiness. 



Turning from the glistening sands of a well-worn 

 wood-road, I threaded my way a few rods between scrubby 

 oaks and dwarfed pines, and over a carpet of tufted gray- 

 green reindeer moss, still flecked with the crimson berries 

 and bronzed foliage of wintergreen. What the trees 

 wanted in stateliness and height was more than compen- 

 sated for by the luxuriant growth of lichens that draped 

 their branches. The bearded giants of Florida were here 

 bearded dwarfs, but no less venerable in aspect. 



There were two very distinct species of these drooping 

 lichens, one of which often measured fully two feet in 

 length. The other was but little less vigorous a growth, 

 and, though semi-erect, was equally graceful. This one 

 bore aloft the daintiest of pearl-gray cups — goblets that 

 flies might have sipped at, had they not all been empty ; 

 yet many were large enough to have held a drop of dew. 

 Never before had I seen the well-known forms growing so 

 luxuriantly. They gave a misty, cobwebby look to the 

 woods, as though the spiders of the world had held a sum- 

 mer-long convention. 



Plunging into this tangle, my first thoughts were of 

 the animal life that it must shelter. I listened for birds 

 to sing; there was no sound. I scanned the nearer 

 branches ; there was no moving creature. I shook the 

 tufted lichens ; not a bug crawled forth. The cracking of 

 brittle twigs beneath my feet alone broke the silence. I 

 was in a beautiful yet lifeless country. 



Then came an abrupt change in my surroundings. 

 Reaching higher ground, the crisp, crackling mosses gave 

 way to fresher growths, and wi'eath-like patches of glitter- 



