y. 



NOTABLE PHENOMENA. 



THERE are no phenomena associated with fungi that are of 

 greater interest than those which relate to luminosity. The 

 fact that fungi under some conditions are luminous has long 

 been known, since schoolboys in our juvenile days were in the 

 habit of secreting fragments of rotten wood penetrated by 

 mycelium, in order to exhibit their luminous properties in the 

 dark, and thus astonish their more ignorant or incredulous fel- 

 lows. Rumphius noted its appearance in Amboyna, and Fries, 

 in his Observations, gives the name of Thelephora phospliorea 

 to a species of Corticium now known as Corticium cceruleum, 

 on account of its phosphorescence under certain conditions. 

 The same species is the Auricularia phospliorea of Sowerby, 

 but he makes no note of its phosphorescence. Luminosity in 

 fungi " has been observed in various parts of the world, and 

 where the species has been fully developed it has been generally 

 a species of Agaricus which has yielded the phenomenon."* 

 One of the best-known species is the Agaricus olearius of the 

 South of Europe, which was examined by Tulasne with especial 

 view to its luminosity.f In his introductory remarks, he says 

 that four species only of Agaricus that are luminous appear afc 

 present to be known. One of them, A. olearius, D. C., is indi- 

 genous to Central Europe ; another, A. igneus, Humph., comes 

 from Amboyna ; the third, A. noctileucus. Lev., has been dis- 



* M. J. Berkeley, "Introduction to Cryptogamic Botany," p. 265. 

 f Tulasne, "Sur la Phosphorescence des Champignons," in "Ann. des Sci. 

 Nat." (1848), vol. ix p. 338. 



