158 PHOSPHORESCENCE OF THE SEA. 



during the day. The subterranean passages of the coal 

 mines near Dresden are illuminated by the phospho- 

 rescent light of the rhizomorpha phosphoreus, a peculiar 

 fungus. On the leaves of the Pindoba palm, a species 

 of agaric grows which is exceedingly luminous at night ; 

 and many varieties of the lichens, creeping along the 

 roofs of caverns, lend to them an air of enchantment by 

 the soft and clear light which they diffuse. In a small 

 cave near Penryn, a luminous moss is abundant ; and it 

 is also found in the mines of Hesse. According to 

 Heinzmann, the rhizomorpha subterrama and aidulca 

 are also phosphorescent. 



It is but lately that a plant which abounds in the 

 jungles in the Madura district of the East Indies was 

 sent to this country, which, although dead, was 

 remarkably phosphorescent; and, when in the living 

 state, the light which it emitted was extraordinarily 

 vivid, illuminating the ground for some distance. 

 Those remarkable effects may be due, in some cases, to 

 the separation of phosphuretted hydrogen from decom- 

 posing matter, and, in others, to some peculiar electric 

 manifestation. 



The phosphorescence of the sea, or that condition 

 called by fishermen brimy, when the surface, being struck 

 by an oar, or the paddle-wheels of a steamer, gives out 

 large quantities of light, has been attributed to the pre- 

 sence of myriads of minute insects which have the power 

 of emitting light when irritated. The night-shining 

 nereis (Nereis noctiluca) emits a light of great brilliancy, 

 as do several kinds of the mollusca. The nereides 

 attach themselves to the scales of fishes, and thus 

 frequently render them exceedingly luminous. Some 

 of the crustacese possess the same remarkable property ; 

 twelve different species of cancer were taken up by 

 the naturalists of the Zaire in the Gulf of Guinea.* The 

 cancer fulgens, discovered by Sir Joseph Banks, is 

 * See Tuckey's Narrative of the Expedition of the Zaire. 



