392 FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE. 



were surprised to find the road scattered with 

 luminous patches, which, when more closely examined, 

 proved to be portions of bark, or little fragments of 

 wood. Following the track they came to a blaze of 

 white light which was perfectly surprising ; on exa- 

 mination it appeared that the whole of the inside of 

 the bark of the log was covered with a white byssoid 

 mycelium of a peculiarly strong smell, but unfor- 

 tunately in such a state that the perfect form could 

 not be ascertained. This was luminous, but the 

 light was by no means so bright as in those parts of 

 the wood where the spawn had penetrated more 

 deeply, and where it was so intense that the roughest 

 treatment scarcely seemed to check it. If any at- 

 tempt was made to rub off the luminous matter it 

 only shone the more brightly, and when wrapped up 

 in five folds of paper the light penetrated through 

 all the folds on either side as brightly as if the 

 specimen was exposed ; when, again, the specimens 

 were placed in the pocket, the pocket when opened 

 was a mass of light. The luminosity had now been 

 going on for three days. Unfortunately we did not 

 see it ourselves till the third day, when it had, 

 possibly from a change in the state of electricity, been 

 somewhat impaired, but it was still most interesting, 

 and we have merely recorded what we saw ourselves. 

 It was almost possible to read the time on the face 

 of a watch, even in its less luminous condition. We 



