132 LIVING LIGHTS. 



the track, they came to a blaze of white light which was 

 perfectly surprising; on examination it appeared that the 

 whole of the inside of the bark of the log was covered with 

 a white byssoid mycelium of a peculiarly strong smell, but 

 unfortunately in such a state that the perfect form could 

 not be ascertained. This was luminous ; but the light was 

 by no means so bright as in those parts of the wood where 

 the spawn had penetrated more deeply, and where it was 

 so intense that the roughest treatment scarcely seemed to 

 check it. If any attempt was made to rub off the luminous 

 matter, it only shone the more brightly ; and when wrapped 

 up in five folds of paper the light penetrated through all 

 the folds on either side as brightly as if the specimen was 

 exposed; when, again, the specimens were placed in the 

 pocket, the pocket when opened was a mass of light. The 

 luminosity had now been going on for three days. Unfor- 

 tunately we did not see it ourselves till the third day, when 

 it had, possibly from a change in the state of electricity, 

 been somewhat impaired ; but it was still most interesting, 

 and we have merely recorded what we saw ourselves. It 

 was almost possible to read the time on the face of a watch, 

 even in its less luminous condition. We do not for a moment 

 suppose that the mycelium is essentially luminous, but are 

 rather inclined to believe that a peculiar occurrence of cli- 

 matic conditions is necessary for the production of the phe- 

 nomenon, which is certainly one of great rarity. Observers 

 as we have been of fungi in their native haunts for fifty 

 years, it has never fallen to our lot to witness a similar case 

 before ; though Professor Churchill Babington once sent us 

 specimens of luminous wood, which had, however, lost their 

 luminosity before they arrived. It should be observed that 



