268 



never been able to satisfy myself on the point. In one particular instance I 

 brought home in my vasculum some pieces of wood, which I was not aware were 

 luminous till I discovered they were so by seeing the light on my study table in 

 the evening. There were three species growing on this wood, — Polyporus versi- 

 color, Peziza vulgaris, and Licca frafjiforniis, or as it is now called Tuhulina frayi- 

 formis. Neither of these when removed from the wood gave out any light, yet 

 the wood immediately beneath them could be seen, by the aid of the microscope, 

 to be traversed by mycelium, and was decidedly luminous. There was no 

 character in the mycelium by which it could be referred to either of the species 

 present, and hence I was impressed with the diflBculty that surrounds this ques- 

 tion. The mere presence of certain perfectly developed species does not account 

 necessarily for the phenomenon. In the case of Rhizomorpha it is otherwise, 

 because it is large, dark coloured, and can be removed from the wood while it 

 retains its luminosity. M. Ludwig gives the result of his examination of pine- 

 wood attacked by Rhizomorphia (Gardeners^ Chronicle, 1874, p. 361). He found 

 that on moistening the wood it became luminous, and that this was owing to the 

 fungus mycelium which lay between the bark and wood. The mycelium was 

 separated from the wood and remained luminous, while by so doing the wood 

 itself was deprived of its luminosity. Mr. Worthington Smith gives an account 

 in Gardeners^ Chronicle, 1877, p. 83, of a remarkable case of phosphorescent fungus- 

 spawn found permeating the wood of a rotten oak -stump, sent to him by Capt. 

 King, of Chiselhurst, which was kept under view for some time, and produced a 

 dense crop of Agaricus fascicularis ; at least it "apparently" sprang from the 

 same dense white spawn which was luminous the year before. It would seem 

 from the use of the word "apparently " it was not absolutely certain ; besides, 

 we learn from an earlier account of the same wood in the Gardeners' Chronicle for 

 1875, p. 719, that there were present in some places mucilaginous masses where the 

 luminosity was visible, also Rhizomorpha was present, and something like a pur- 

 plish mass, which suggested Corticium cceruleum. 



2nd. — Has luminosity been observed in any British fungus apart from its 

 mycelium ? 



There is an Agaric in the South of France which occurs upon the olive tree, 

 Ag. olearius, which is undoubtedly luminous. M. Delile stated, that the only 

 portion of this plant which is luminous is the inferior face of the gills, while M. 

 Tulasne satisfied himself that specimens he examined were frequently luminous 

 beneath, above, and within the pileus, and on the surface and vnthin the stem, 

 although he found some young specimens in which the gills alone were so. (Ann. 

 des So. Nat, Vol. ix., p. 338, 1848). Fries affirmed that the luminosity of this 

 species was owing to a parasitic fungus, Cladosporium umbrinum, in which opinion 

 neither Tulasne nor Berkeley agreed. Again, in Agaricus Gardneri Berk., from 

 Brazil, and Agarieus Mmerici Berk., from the Andaman Islands, the whole 

 plant is luminous. The only cases in this country I have been able to find a re- 

 cord of is given by Mr. Worthington Smith (Science Gossip, 1872, p, 118), where 

 he mentions Polyporus annosus, taken from a coal mine at Cardiflf, as being lumi- 



