THE PAGE OF NATURE. 193 



electric sparks, or steadier, like the phosphorescence of 

 the glow-worm. But this quality is very rare among 

 plants, and is almost peculiar to the lowest orders of 

 animals, particularly those which inhabit the ocean. A 

 species of mushroom (Agaricus olearius) grows on the 

 olive-tree, which is often luminous at night, and re- 

 sembles the faint, pale, lambent flickering light emitted 

 by the scales of fish and sea-animals kept in a dark 

 place. A kind of fungus called Ehizomorpha, from its 

 root-like appearance, covers the walls of dark mines with 

 its long, black, branchy, flat fibres, and gives out a re- 

 markably vivid phosphorescent light, almost dazzling the 

 eye of the spectator. In the coal-mines near Dresden, 

 these fungi are said to cover the roof, walls, and pillars, 

 with an interlacing network of beautiful flickering" light, 

 like brilliant gems in moonlight, giving the coal-mine 

 the appearance of an enchanted palace on a festival 

 night. Mr. Gardner, in his interesting travels in Brazil, 

 gives the following account of a remarkable phenomenon 

 of this nature : " One dark night, about the beginning 

 of December, while passing along the streets of the 

 Villa de Natividade, I observed some boys amusing 

 themselves with some luminous object, which I at first 

 supposed to be a kind of large fire-fly; but on making 

 inquiry, I found it to be a beautiful phosphorescent 

 fungus, belonging to the genus Agaricus, and was told 

 that it grew abundantly in the neighbourhood on the 

 decaying leaves of a dwarf palm. Next day, I ob- 

 tained a great many specimens, and found them to vary 

 from one to two and a half inches across. The whole 

 plant gives out at night .a bright phosphorescent light, 

 H 



