Two great devil’s-needles, as big as hummingbirds,

July 17.

The common amaranth.

Young toads not half an inch long at Walden shore.

The smooth sumach resounds with the hum of bees, wasps, etc., at Water target Pond.

I see two great devil’s-needles, three inches long, with red abdomens and bodies as big as hummingbirds, sailing round this pond, round and round, and ever and anon darting aside suddenly, probably to seize some prey.

Here and there the water targets look red, perhaps their under sides.

A duck at Goose Pond.

Rank weeds begin to block up low wood-paths, — goldenrods, asters, etc.

The pearly everlasting.

Lobelia inflata.

The Solidago nemoralis (?) in a day or two, - gray goldenrod.

I think we have no Hieracium Gronovii, though one not veined always and sometimes with two or more leaves on stem.

No grass balls to be seen.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal,  July 17, 1853

Young toads not half an inch long. See July 17, 1856 ("I see many young toads hopping about . . .not more than five eighths to three quarters of an inch long"); July 25, 1855 ("Many little toads about.")  See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau: Midsummer Toads ; Northland Nature: Tiny toad time in late July; What are these Tiny Toads? ("The tadpoles of many species of the genus Bufo (what most people consider to be the “true toads”) metamorphose at a very small size, often all at once, and then disperse. If you live near a pond or lake or stream where the tadpoles are common, you might all of a sudden see dozens or even hundreds of these tiny toadlets for a few days, and after that, see them only occasionally.); Mary Holland, Toadlets Dispersing (July 17, 2013)

The smooth sumach resounds with the hum of bees, wasps, etc, See July 17, 1856 ("Hear at distance the hum of bees from the bass with its drooping flowers") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The Basswood

I see two great devil’s-needles, three inches long, with red abdomens and bodies as big as hummingbirds, sailing round this pond. See ; July 17, 1854 ("Meanwhile large yellowish devil's-needles, coupled, are flying about and repeatedly dipping their tails in the water. . . . great yellowish devil's-needles, flying from shore to shore . . . about a foot above the water, some against a head wind; a. . . If devil's-needles cross Fair Haven, then man may cross the Atlantic. "); see also July 10, 1855 ("Great devil’s-needles above the bank, apparently catching flies ") July 27, 1856 ("A great devil's-needle alights on my paddle, between my hands. It is about three inches long and three and a half in spread of wings, without spots, black and yellow, with green eyes") and A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the Devil's-needle

The pearly everlasting. See July 17, 1852 ("The Antennaria margaritacea, pearly everlasting, is out"); August 23, 1856 ("I see a bed of Antennaria margaritacea, now in its prime, by the railroad, and very handsome."); August 23, 1858 (“I see dense patches of the pearly everlasting, maintaining their ground in the midst of dense green sweet-fern, a striking contrast of snow-white and green.”)

Lobelia inflata. See  July 17, 1852 ("Lobelia inflata, Indian-tobacco""); July 19, 1856 ("Lobelia inflata, perhaps several days; little white glands (?) on the edges of the leaves. ") August 20, 1851 ("The Lobelia inflata, Indian-tobacco, meets me at every turn. At first I suspect some new bluish flower in the grass, but stooping see the inflated pods. Tasting one such herb convinces me that there are such things as drugs which may either kill or cure")

The Solidago nemoralis  in a day or two.See August 5, 1856 ("S. nemoralis, two or three days."); August 18, 1854 ("The solidago nemoralis is now abundantly out on the Great Fields.”); August 21, 1856 ("nemoralis, just beginning generally to bloom.")

I think we have no Hieracium Gronoviis See August 21, 1851 ("I have now found all the hawkweeds. Singular these genera of plants, plants manifestly related yet distinct. They suggest a history to nature, a natural history in a new sense.”);July 29, 1856 (“What I have called Hieracium Gronovii. . . has achenia like H . venosum; so I will give it up.”)---Hieracium gronovii  has not been recorded from Middlesex County, Massachusetts~ Vascular Flora of Concord, Massachusetts

No grass balls to be seen See June 19, 1853 ("No grass balls yet.")