108 FUNGI. 
they are as bright as in the air, but the fungi which I left 
immersed until the next evening lost all their phosphorescence, 
and communicated to the water an already sensible yellow tint; 
alcohol put upon the phosphorescent gills did mot at once com- 
pletely obliterate the light, but visibly enfeebled it. As to the 
spores, which are white, I have found many times very dense 
coats of them thrown down on porcelain plates, but I have 
never seen them phosphorescent. 
“ As to the observation made by Delile that the Agaric of the 
olive does not shine during the day when placed in total dark- 
ness, I think that it could not have been repeated. From what 
I have said of the phosphorescence of A. oleartus, one naturally 
concludes that there does not exist any necessary relation 
between this phenomenon and the fructification of the fungus; 
the luminous brightness of the hymenium shows, says Delile, 
‘the greater activity of the reproductive organs,’ but it is 
not in consequence of its reproductive functions, which may 
be judged only as an accessory phenomenon, the cause of which 
is independent of, and more general than these functions, since 
all the parts of the fungus, its entire substance, throws forth 
at one time, or at successive times, light. From these experi- 
ments Tulasne infers that the same agents, oxygen, water, and 
warmth, are perfectly necessary to the production of phospho- 
rescence as much in living organized beings as in those which 
have ceased to live. In either case, the luminous phenomena 
accompany a chemical reaction which consists principally in 
a combination of the organized matter with the oxygen of the 
air; that is to say, in its combustion, and in the cisghnnes 
of carbonic acid which thus shows itself.” 
We have quoted at considerable length from these observa- 
tions of Tulasne on the Agaric of the olive, as they serve very 
much to illustrate similar manifestations in other species, which 
doubtless resemble each other in their main features. 
Mr. Gardner has graphically described his first acquaintance 
in Brazil with the phosphorescent species which now bears his 
name. It was encountered on a dark night of December, while 
passing through the streets of Villa de Natividate. Some boys 
a 
