SEPTEMBER 19, 1874] 
THE GARDENERS CHRONICLE. 
361 
been going on for many graen F years, I believe 
that the edge of the se is se 1 miles nearer the 
ginally. 
way EM pe: in the neighbourhood of 
Pital wer akei from the forest, and added to the 
grass lands whilst I was in the eatin. The brush- 
a oes not yield suc d crops as the 
virgin forest, but it nearer to the huts of hee eed 
ors, who live out on the savannahs, so that whe 
ever the weedy shrubs gain possession of a s 
sufficiently large for a clearing, and choke $ fe 
these places are again cut do nd b 
and thus = forest is never allowed to establish “i 
from the scene I do not know, b 
forest would slowly bet rady. ii the ground that 
it has lost through long centuries 
In = pisini to i left are the houses yi Sa com- 
cashie: 
missioner and of the mines. Since this draw- 
ing ren Paine, Y Belt has cleared away me weedy 
e in nt of these 
bushes era "covered the 
houses down to th 
Lime, and pe trees, which bore 
his departure, In the foreground is the dell covered 
species, and is rather sanrpses oat Peo Domingo. The pho mewn proceeded from the white 
It has a bitter taste, and cattle t thrive on it, | fungus mycelium lying between bark and w and 
t rapidly fall away ii sss rd if ol which could cadily a separated with the bark. The 
hey do better when allowed to roam about the out- | phosphorescent part the separated bark were 
skirts of t rest amongst the brushwood, as they | observed to be exactly those in which myceliu 
browse on the leaves of many — rb found when light was admitted. Separated from its 
ass is not found far outside the forest, but | d put on a damp plate, the mycelium 
T on the savannahs by a great variety ea tahat | luminous, with the same intensity, several days, while 
grasse | the piece of bark from which it had en was 
| no longer 1 . wood of the moistened 
I e woods are found various species of the | roots, also, only those pieces were phosphorescent 
curassow (Crax), er ha as of Penelope and og » | which were attacked by the mycelium ; but in t! 
ons numerous trogons, mot-mots, toucans, | neighbourhood of the hie ay iin and where 
ine snore whilst the Tronenbig birdi occurin cesta | these were a ss pa ke was also luminous to 
ess numbers a depth of 2 was moistened 
pore of the aera are from Honduras, and amo ngs st | the phosphorescence Paras t fu , and became 
are fo t called ‘‘toros,” or earth-eaters, | more se. croscopical examination showed 
wh ave a vicious habit of chewing a certain steatitic | that, so far as phosphorescence reached, the 
lay called ‘‘ jabonada,” which produ i f | wood was penetrated with anaes cells ; hence there 
soapy fi a hen moistened with saliva, can be no do t here, too, the phosphorescence 
For er details of this interesting region the | was due to the hypha of fungus 
reader is Teli e Dr. Seemann’s s, Captain | As regards the luminosity d wood, M. 
Bedford Pim’s Gate of the Pacific, and Mr. Belvs | Ludwig has (in a former communication) shown t 
lately published book, o hich lengthe existence of a fun n it, rarity of the pheno- 
ne 
notice was given in our first volume for the present 
ear 
FIG. 77.—MINING SETTLEMENT 
with fallen logs and rubbish, where now Mr. Belt has 
established a les, and Seka 
This locality i is a favourite haunt of plants with y: 
-Fhere -are~ 
(including, | the well-known De zebrinus and and 
Malortianus, several new ones), two bea 
of Cissus, with bright scarlet a sor (introduced 
by Dr. Seemann i ), and s 
tacee and Aroideæ. But est of these is os ag 
named by Dr. Seemann Cyrtodeira chontalensi 
ceous pla Unfortunately, the spot teste 
the Cyrtodeira grew be and burn 
cides), a , Tofty climber, ev 
ower-bearing 
i 
menon is against the idea that it is produced by a 
chemical process in Semen pae ee of the wood, To 
Baga ep ge OF FUNGI 
OOD. ras 
aetna of light has 
tainly been observed in plants have hitherto 
been confined to fungi and a few kinds of lum 
wood. Among fungi a of the large H: 
mycetes known as n ena bas beset 
T chiefly to the torrid zone: In the temperate 
zone, and especially in the middle ead north of Europe, 
the Posphorescenteo pins growths is by no means 
constan cially the rhizomorphous 
mycelia 
y 
forms d highly developed. fine and the o 
ently expanded on wood, that are phos- 
these + ae 
phores: 
on for 
a livin 
AT SANTO DOMINGO, IN THE FORESTS 
OF NICARAGUA, 
the process of corruption a special aE moment” has to 
be added, viz., the serem fungus, in 
light being produced. 
scope, the pre: 
ager ‘Ata, in Hey M. 
iece of d ecayed Berch wood e 
with pei flainents. Thus t 
rotten wood 
as 
has observed 
tirely penetrated 
e phobi = 
may be Blonds in the same way as 
that of living trees. 
As regards the nature of the pheno ight, 
a 
and the necessary condition of its prod 
es makes observations as follows :— 
The light of the pire m v which I 
tA showed in the 
= wave tien that of w 
and wa er-moistened columns. 
sete at 
