LUMINOSITY. 399 



can be pleaded here, the manifestations being so 

 decided, so numerous, so well authenticated, and so 

 widely distributed. One of the most recent additions 

 has been a small species from the Andaman Islands ; 

 several species have now been recorded from different 

 parts of the Australian colonies ; Gaudichaud found 

 one in Manilla, and Rumphius another in Amboyna. 

 Dr. Hooker believes them to exist in the Sikkim 

 Himalayas ; and we have already mentioned their 

 occurrence in Brazil and the Indian Archipelago. 



We might add to these the species of Polyporus, 

 mentioned by Mr. Worthington Smith, such as Poly- 

 porus annosus, found in the Cardiff coal-mines, the 

 light of which was sufficient for the men to "see 

 their hands by," and could be detected at a distance 

 " of twenty yards. Polyporus sulfureus, which the 

 same observer has seen exhibiting the phenomenon. 1 

 Perhaps, also, some others, of which the records are 

 uncertain, as Corticium caruleum, and the unusual 

 circumstance of a luminous myxogaster, recorded 

 by the Rev. M. J. Berkeley, in the " Gardener's 

 Chronicle." 



From these examples it will be clear that fungi 

 exhibit luminous properties, both in their imperfect 

 and perfect conditions. That the light is of that 



1 See also " Fungi, their Nature, Uses," &c, by M. C. Cooke, 

 p. 105. 



