170 SHOKT NOTES AND QUERIES. 



appears to have been hoed. To-day I saw a waggon load of Charlock an 

 acre, where Turnips were doubtless intended ; and yesterday not a less 

 burden of the common Bugloss {Lycopsis arvensis)." 1 now pass on to 

 the ' Delineator, or a Picturesque, Historical, and Topographical Descrip- 

 tion of the Isle of Wight,' by James Clarke (2nd edition, 1814; 6th 

 edition, 1824). In this we have, "The Bee and Fly Orchis are found 

 near Carisbrooke Castle and several other places in the island" (2nd edition, 

 p. 77; 6th edition, p. 68); also, "there are several at Sir William Fitz- 

 william Barrington's, Bart., Swainston." The Digitalis and Eock- 

 samphire are also mentioned in both editions. Englefield's ' Isle of 

 Wight' (1816) is mostly concerned with the geological aspect of the 

 island, but on p. 53 he writes: — " The observation of the sudden changes 

 of the whn^e look of the vegetation, correspondent to the changes of tiie 

 subsoil, which Dr. Maton, in his ' Western Tour,' mentions with the de- 

 tail of an experienced botanist, had occurred to me constantly in my 

 different tours in the island, and had guided me in a very instructive 

 manner as to the succession and limits of the different subsoils, where no 

 openings of the ground were to be found to aid research. The geologist 

 would do wtll to pay constant attention to such indicaiions ; and there is 

 something peculiarly pleasing in seeing sciences not apparently related 

 thus mutually tending to the advancement of both. How false and con- 

 temptible is the supercilious pride of liira who dares despise even the 

 most apparently trifling observation on, or humble investigation of, the 

 great and infinitely varied spectacle of nature!" My last quotation con- 

 sists of the last sentence in the description of the Isle of Wight by Eobert 

 Mudie, Hampshire (vol. iii. I. of W. p. 226), 1838 :— " The botany and 

 zoology of the Isle of Wight present nothing peculiar." I have not been 

 able to consult J. Albin's ' Isle of Wight Magazine ' (1799) ; W. Cooke's 

 'Picture of the Isle of Wight' (1813);^nor John Stnrch's 'Isle of 

 Wight' (1791). In conclusion, I hope to make some further remarks 

 on the modern condition of the flora, when Mr. A. G. More's valuable 

 paper has been completed. — R. Tucker. 



Luminous Fungi.- — Two years ago I had some specimens of luminous 

 fungi sent to me from the Cardiff coal-mines ; they were parasitic on the 

 shoring timbers, and both fungi and mycelium were phosphorescent. The 

 colliers in the coal-mines of the western boundary of Glamorganshire and 

 adjoining Caermarthenshire are well acquainted with these phosphorescent 

 fungi, and the men state that they give sufficient light to " see their hands 

 by." In another coal-mine, seven miles north of Cardiff, some colliers 

 told Mr. William Adams that they had seen lights on the timber when 

 travelling in tlie dark, and one of them said he was much frightened the 

 first time he saw them. The luminous fungi sent to me from these mines 

 were specimens of Folyporus annonus, Fr., and they could be seen in the 

 dark at a distance of twenty yards. I have also seen P. snlfnreus, Fr., 

 phosphorescent, and Mr. Broome has met with a luminous Corticium. I 

 have heard that C. cfendeuni, Fr., is sometimes luminous. Berkeley says 

 that Ayaricna (Crepicfotus) olearius, Fr., a para'-ite of Olive-trees, is some- 

 times so luminous in the south of France that letters may be distinginshed 

 by its light. A short time since I had a dried Agaric (probably a 

 Collybia) given me through Professor Ciiurch, of Cirencester, which was 

 phosphorescent when gathered ; it came from a cellar in Oxford Street. 



