Vv. 
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 phosphorea 
to a species of Corticium now known as Corticium ceruleum, 
on account of its phosphorescence under certain conditions. 
The same species is the Auricularia phosphorea 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.t In his introductory remarks, he says 
that four species only of Agaricus that are luminous appear at 
present to be known. One of them, A. olearius, D.C., is indi- 
genous to Central Europe; another, d. igneus, Rumph., comes 
from Amboyna; the third, A. noctileucus, Lév., has been dis- 
* M. J. Berkeley, ‘‘ Introduction to Cryptogamic Botany,” p. 265. 
+ Tulasne, “Sur la Phosphorescence des Champignons,” in ‘‘ Ann. des Sci, 
Nat.” (1848), vol. ix. p. 338. 
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