106 PCNOI. 



covered at Manilla by Graudichaud, in 1836 ; the last, A. Gard- 

 nerij Berk., is produced in the Brazilian province of Goyaz, upon 

 dead leaves. As to the Dematium violaceum, Pers., the Himantia 

 Candida, Pers., cited once by Link, and the ThelepJiora ccerulea, 

 D. C. (Corticium c&ruleum, Fr.), Tulasne is of opinion that their 

 phosphorescent properties are still problematical; at least no 

 recent observation corffirms them. 



The phosphorescence of A. olearius, D. C., appears to have 

 been first made known by De Candolle, but it seems that he was 

 in error in stating that these phosphorescent properties mani- 

 fest themselves only at the time of its decomposition. Fries, 

 describing the Cladosporium umbrinum, which lives upon the 

 Agaric of the olive-tree, expressed the opinion that the Agaric 

 only owes its phosphorescence to the presence of the mould. 

 This, however, Tulasne denies, for he writes, " I have had the 

 opportunity of observing that the Agaric of the olive is really 

 phosphorescent of itself, and that it is not indebted to any 

 foreign production for the light it emits." Like Delile, hj 

 considers that the fungus is only phosphorescent up to the time 

 when it ceases to grow ; thus the light which it projects, one 

 might say, is a manifestation of its vegetation. 



" It is an important fact," writes Tulasne, "which I can con- 

 firm, and which it is important to insist upon, that the phos- 

 phorescence is not exclusively confined to the hymenial surface. 

 Numerous observations made by me prove that the whole of the 

 substance of the fungus participates very frequently, if not 

 always, in the faculty of shining in the dark. Among the first 

 Agarics which I examined, I found many, the stipe of which 

 shed here and there a light as -brilliant as the hymenium, and 

 led me to think that it was due to the spores which had fallen 

 on the surface of the stipe. Therefore, being in the dark, I 

 scraped with my scalpel the luminous parts of the stipe, but it 

 did not sensibly diminish their brightness; then I split the stipe, 

 bruised it, divided it into small fragments, and I found that 

 the whole of this mass, even in its deepest parts, enjoyed, in a 

 similar degree to its superficies, the property of light. I found, 

 besides, a phosphorescence quite as brilliant in all the cap, for, 



