FOX-FIRE IQ 
as I invaded it with my hand, proved to be bare, 
exposed wood. Taking hold of the loose bark, a 
vigorous pull dislodged a great piece some three 
feet long, at the same time liberating a glare of 
greenish light from the exposed surface of the 
log, which was responded to in sympathy by the 
inner surface of the slab of bark in my hands, in 
all representing about six square feet of brilliant 
phosphorescence. 
I carried a fragment home, and upon inspect- 
ing it by lamp-light, found it white with thready 
mould, resembling the so - called " dry - rot " of 
mouldy timber doubtless the mother of some 
well-known fungus, or " toadstool," which might 
have been discerned upon the log the following 
day had I chanced thither. 
Hawthorne in one of his books records a re- 
markable personal encounter with this weird fox- 
fire, and one which cost him dearly. He was on 
a journey by canal -boat, which had stopped en 
route for a brief period at midnight. During the 
interval he had stepped ashore, and was decoyed 
into a neighboring wood by the bright glow, which 
proved to be a fallen tree ablaze with phosphores- 
cence. 
In his surprise and interest he lost all ac- 
count of time, and thus missed his boat, and 
was obliged to " foot it " for miles on the mid- 
night tow-path, which he was enabled to do by 
