urbpan | (no subject)

At the end of the summer I earned my only two yellow jacket stings. I was using a shovel to lift a rock and then dig out a subterranean nest. I was entirely covered except for one hand--I got stung on the thumb and forefinger. Once I exposed the nest I soaked it with an aerosol insecticide. The nest was broken into dozens of little chunks of wasp-made paper on the heap of soil dug out and deposited onto my lawn. I left it as it was for a couple weeks. One rainy day I went back into that corner of the yard and discovered this: A fast growing fungus had colonized the paper nest pieces and thrown out beautiful fur-like sporangia. Water droplets clung to the mold spikes like glittering jewels.

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