148 



HUTCHINSON'S POPULAR BOTANY 



We come now to the Fungi. Here we meet at once with examples of 

 luminosity which are undoubtedly due to phosphorescence. Phosphorescent 

 Fungi are abundant, for instance, in the coal-mines of Dresden, where they 

 are even said to be dazzling to the eye. Hanging in festoons and pendants 

 from the uneven roofs, twisting root-like round the pillars and covering the 

 walls, they give to these otherwise dreary excavations the semblance of 

 fairy palaces. ' ; I saw the luminous plants here in wonderful beauty," 

 says Mr. Erdman, a Commissioner of Mines, ' and the impression produced 

 by the spectacle I shall never forget. It appeared, on descending into the 

 mine, as if we were entering an enchanted castle. The abundance of 

 those plants was so great, that the roof and the walls and pillars 

 were entirely covered with them, and the beautiful light they cast 

 around almost dazzled the eye. The light they give out is like faint 

 moonshine, so that two persons near each other could readily distinguish 

 their bodies." 



These spreading masses of luminous vegetable matter were formerly 

 looked upon as a distinct species of Fungus, and were classed with a few 

 others of similar root-like form in the group Rhizomorpha ; but they 



, 



vMA 



FIG. 185. THE CHANNELLED WRACK (Pelvetia canaliculate,). 



[i\ Step. 



A brown seaweed that grows profusely on the rocks between tide-marks, and twice a day is left dry by the receding 



tide. On many of the higher rocks it is completely dried up by the sun during the perio~d of low water, 



but fully recovers on the return of the tide. 



