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CHAPTER II. 
PHOSPHORESCENCE IN CRYPTOGAMIC PLANTS, 
AND EMISSION OF LIGHT FROM DECAYED 
WOOD. 
PHosPHORESCENCE has been rather more frequently 
observed in Cryptogams than in Phanerogams. 
An emission of hght has been observed in a 
pretty little plant belonging to the family of 
Hepatic, which grows chiefly upon schists, and 
resembles in miniature the royal fern (Osmunda 
reqalis). From these two circumstances, the 
plant in question has been named Schistosteqa 
osmundacea (fig. 9). When this plant germinates, 
it gives birth to numerous confervoid filaments, 
which shine in a semi-obscurity with a very sin- 
cular luminosity. 
Unger has observed, however, that spiders’ webs 
present very nearly the same appearance, and this 
circumstance has led some naturalists to believe 
that the shining property of Schistotega osmun- 
dacea may probably be nothing more than re- 
flected light. 
eo lh 
