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 



