20 EYE SPY 



the aid of a big brand of the tree which he used 

 as a flambeau. 



Almost any damp wood, especially after a rain, 

 is likely to disclose its fox-fire, but it occasionally 

 appears under circumstances where we little ex- 

 pect it. A few weeks since, having occasion to 

 go to my refrigerator after dark, I noticed a brill- 

 iant glowing object upon the floor beneath it, 

 which I found upon inspection to be merely a 

 piece of damp bread. Can it be that the yeast 

 fungus too may give off effulgence with its car- 

 bonic acid at its whim ? or was the light traceable 

 to the perceptible odor of lobster with which it 

 had evidently been previously in contact ? 



Dead fish are frequently thus luminous, and 

 brilliant phosphorescence is often an accompani- 

 ment of decomposition of both animal and vege- 

 table matter. A few decaying potatoes will often 

 light up a corner of a cellar which is dim by day- 

 light, and an instance is on record of a certain 

 cellar full of these vegetables giving off such a 

 flood of light as to lead observers to suppose that 

 the premises were on fire. 



Many animals, and especially fishes and insects, 

 possess luminous properties. The familiar exam- 

 ples of the glowworm and fire-fly hardly need be 

 mentioned. Then there are the big lantern-flies, 

 with their luminous heads; and brilliant snapping 

 beetles of the South, with their two glowing head- 



