STUDIES ON THE LUMINOUS FUNGUS. 19 



VI. Reactions against gases. 



In most of the following experiments, bottles of 500 cc. capa- 

 city were filled with various gases, and into these were put pieces 

 of luminous gills weighing 50 grammes. 



(a) With nitrogen gas, the fungus-light began to fade after 

 ten seconds ; it became very feeble after fifty seconds, barely re- 

 cognizable after one minute and twenty seconds, and finally in- 

 visible after one minute and forty seconds from the beginning, 

 upon that, the specimen was at once taken out into the air, where 

 it recovered the light after twenty seconds. 



(b) With hydrogen gas, the light began to fade after ten 

 seconds, and after thirty minutes from the beginning it was invisible. 



(c) 1 cc. of ether put in the bottle ; this closed with a glass 

 plate and kept quiet until the ether was vaporized. Then, a piece 

 of gill weighing 50 grammes was placed in the battle, keeping it 

 suspended by a thread. After one minute and fifty seconds, the 

 light became invisible. Thereupon, the specimen was taken out 

 into the air ; thirty seconds after, the luminosity was recovered. 



(d) Chloroform vaporized in a like manner caused the fungus- 

 light to vanish in fifty-five seconds. The specimen was then 

 promptly taken out into the air. The recovery of luminosity was 

 found to take place much more slowly in this Case than in that 

 of ether. Specimens, which wore left in the chloroform vapor for 

 a short while after the loss of luminosity, failed to recover. 



(e) Taking wide-mouthed bottles of 200 cc. capacity each, 

 one was filled with chloroform vapor and the other with ether 

 vapor. A piece of gill weighing 40 grammes was put into each 

 bottle. After twenty-five minutes, the specimen in the chloroform 

 still emitted a very feeble light, while that in the ether became 

 non-luminous. Then, both specimens were simultaneously taken 



