PHOSPHORESCENCE OF EARTHWORM, 127 
light by earthworms, properly so called (Lumbri- 
cus) ; the first of these was made by Flaugergues, 
who had observed the phenomenon of phospho- 
rescence in Lumbrics for some years consecu- 
tively, and always in the month of October ; 
namely, in 1771, 1775, and 1776. Flaugergues 
had, moreover, remarked that the lhght was 
emitted principally from that portion of the body 
in which are situated the external organs of re- 
production. ‘The second observation is owed to 
the naturalist Bruguiére ; his note, which was in- 
serted in the ‘ Journal d’ Histoire Naturelle’ (vol. 
ii. p.267), is entitled “ Sur la Qualité Phosphorique 
du Ver de Terre en certaines circonstances.”’ 
Since then, M. Audouin himself has been con- 
vinced of the fact by some curious observations 
made known to him by Professor Moquin-T'andon, 
one of the present members of the Academy of 
Sciences. ‘These observations are well worth re- 
cording. 
The last-named savant, together with M.Saigey, 
remarked one warm summer evening in the year 
1837, a number of small phosphorescent animals 
in a garden-walk at Toulouse. Both M. Saigey 
and M. Moquin-T'andon ascertained positively that 
these animals belonged to the genus Limbricus. 
They were from forty to fifty millimétres long. 
The hght with which they shone was nearly white, 
and resembled that of a bar of iron heated to a 
