PHOSPHORESCENCE OF EARTHWORM. 127 



light by earthworms, properly so called (Lumbri- 

 cus) ; the first of these was made by Flaugergues, 

 who had observed the phenomenon of phospho- 

 rescence in Lumbrics for some years consecu- 

 tively, and always in the month of October ; 

 namely, in 1771, 1775, and 1776. Flaugergues 

 had, moreover, remarked that the light was 

 emitted principally from that portion of the body 

 in which are situated the external organs of re- 

 production. The second observation is owed to 

 the naturalist Bruguiere ; his note, which was in- 

 serted in the ' Journal d'Histoire Naturelle ' (vol. 

 ii. p. 267), is entitled " Sur la Qualite Phosphorique 

 du Ver de Terre en certaines cir Constances." 



Since then, M. Audouin himself has been con- 

 vinced of the fact by some curious observations 

 made known to him by Professor Moquin-Tandon, 

 one of the present members of the Academy of 

 Sciences. These observations are well worth re- 

 cording. 



The last-named savant, together with M. Saigey, 

 remarked one warm summer evening in the year 

 1837, a number of small phosphorescent animals 

 in a garden-walk at Toulouse. Both M. Saigey 

 and M. Moquin-Tandon ascertained positively that 

 these animals belonged to the genus Lumbricus. 

 They were from forty to fifty millimetres long. 

 The light with which they shone was nearly white, 

 and resembled that of a bar of iron heated to a 



