Backyard and Beyond

To everything there is a season, and these mushrooms were on the way to deliquescing into ooze. Ants in the first picture. In the second, the white rice-looking things are alive. They are some kind of springtails, possibly of the genus Ceratophysella, and are scavenging on the rich fruit of these fruiting bodies. As always, you can click on these images to pop them open, although you may wish to pass on this one.I read recently a comment from a lower Hudson River valley mushroom hunter, who said this fall has seen the most mushroom in half a century. It was extraordinarily wet, that’s for sure.Large Yellow Webworm caterpillar.