LUMINOSITY. 397 



mycelium."! Mr. Hugh Low has affirmed that "he 

 saw the jungle all in a blaze of light, by which he 

 could see to read, as some years ago he was riding 

 across the island by the jungle road, and that this 

 luminosity was produced by an agaric." 

 - Similar experiences are furnished from Australia, 

 where several species of luminous agarics have been 

 found. Drummond, writing from the Swan River- 

 speaks of two species growing parasitically on the 

 stumps of trees, with nothing particular in their 

 appearance by day, but by night emitting a most 

 curious light, such as he had never seen described 

 in any book. The first species was about two inches 

 across, and was growing in clusters on the stump 

 of a Banksia tree. " The stump was at the time 

 surrounded by water, when I happened to be passing 

 on a dark night, and was surprised to see what 

 appeared to be a light in such a spot. When this 

 fungus was laid on a newspaper it emitted by night 

 a phosphorescent light, enabling us to read the words 

 round it, and it continued to do so for several nights 

 with gradually decreasing intensity as the plant dried 

 up." Subsequently he found a second species, six- 

 teen inches in diameter, and a foot in height, 

 weighing about five pounds. " This specimen was 



' '•' Journal of Linntean Society," vol. x., p. 469. 

 ^ Hooker's " Journal of Botany," April, 1842. 



