NEW PHOSPHORESCENT SPECIES OF AGARICUS. 427 
A. Gardneri (Berk. mst.); pileo carnoso-coriaceo subin- 
difundibuliformi glabro flavo, lamellis longe decurrentibus 
pallidioribus, stipite brevi coriaceo glabro cinerascente. 
Has. in Brazilia, ad folia palmarum que ab incolis dican- 
tur Pindoba. 
Description.— Plant growing solitary, or two or three to- 
gether on the bases of the half-rotten midribs of the fronds 
of a stemless palm called Pindoba by the Brazilians. Pileus 
about 23 inches broad, depressed, at length becoming some- 
what infundibuliform, margin waved and lobed, texture 
between coriaceous and fleshy, glabrous, and of a beautiful 
lemon-yellow colour. Gils rather distant, decurrent, various, 
between every two which reach to the top of the stipes are 
from three to seven shorter ones, varying from two lines to 
nearly an inch in length, the lower end of the shorter ones 
. roundish, the long ones gradually becoming narrower till 
they finally merge into the stipes, of a paler colour than the 
pileus. Stipes excentric, solid, about an inch long, and half 
an inch thick, of a more coriaceous texture than the rest of | 
the plant, smooth, and of a light cinereous colour. j 
The whole plant gives out at night a bright phosphorescent 
light, somewhat similar to that emitted by the larger fire-flies, 
having a pale greenish hue. From this circumstance, and 
from growing on a palm, it is called by the inhabitants ** Flor 
de Coco.” 
VILLA ve NATIVIDADE, Province or Govaz, 
Brazit, December 13th, 1839. 
| Upon the subject of the above Mr Berkeley has kindly 
.. communicated to me the following letter :— 
: “My Dear Sir,—I have read with great interest Mr 
.. Gardner's communication, "The phenomenon, however, ob- 
served by him is not entirely new. Agaricus olearius, Dec.,* 
> » Fries thinks it ;plobekte that the luminous appearance is due to the — 
presence of a Cladosporium, but as other Agarics are gp the n 
nion seems to be unfounded. is 
