FOX-FIRE 19 



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 



