FOX-FIRE 23 
Fox-fire is occasionally put to a cruel utility by 
hunters in association with the "salt-lick" for 
deer. Salt is scattered in a selected spot, and a 
piece of fox-fire adjusted beyond it in direct line 
of the aim of the rifle, which is securely fixed in 
place. The sudden obscuration of the light is a 
sufficient signal for the still-hunter, who has only 
to pull the trigger to secure the game, even though 
the latter be entirely hid in the darkness. 
The more common examples of fox-fire are 
small bits of decayed wood, but most astonishing 
specimens have been observed. In addition to 
the fine example mentioned by Hawthorne, there 
is an authentic record of a single log twenty-four 
feet in length and a foot in diameter which was 
one mass of brilliant phosphorescence. 
