FIELD NOTES IN SEED TIME. 209 



seed or spore cases, but look at them through the 

 microscope, and you will look into a museum 

 which shows the curious method that Nature has 

 invented to sow broadcast these sporules, that 

 appear like little puffs of fine dust as they fly from 

 the ruptured sacks. What has torn open these 

 cysts or pods ? On the upper sides and half-way 

 round them, grows a jointed, elastic filament, which, 

 as it matures, is more and more inclined to become 

 straight, till finally it suddenly springs upward, 

 tearing transversely the membranaceous sack on 

 the under side, and scattering the contents. 



How often, at this season, in the woods, do we 

 come upon that strange shrub, bearing its blossoms 

 even while its leaves are falling, and the seeds, 

 formed the previous year, are bursting from their 

 pods ! The blossoms of the witch-hazel is the rear 

 guard of the army of the flowers. Oftentimes as 

 late as the first half of the first winter month, when 

 the frosts have rendered the sap dull and torpid, 

 the inflorescence of this exceptional plant im- 

 presses the stroller as untimely and out of place. 

 It has a medicinal, potent appearance. The long, 

 crinkled, strap-shaped petals along the slender 

 twigs suggest the intwisting serpents and wings 

 of Mercury's wand. No wonder the sorcerer as- 



