1981] 
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unknown. Nor is it known if attracted flies, such as phorids and 
cecidomyiids, would be useful agents of dispersal. Vagile adults may 
not feed on fungal materials. Protein consumption by cecidomyiids 
is particularly rare (see Sivinski and Stowe 1981). Spores may be 
moved, however, by attachment to the surface of a passing insect. 
The topography and timing of luminous displays are often 
suggestive of guiding dispersers. In Mycena pruinosa-viscida and 
M. rorida from the Far Eastern tropics only the spores emit light 
(Haneda 1955). Most fruiting body lights are restricted to, or 
brighter in, the spore bearing hymenium (Wassink 1978) and 
Panellus stypticus glows most strongly at the time of spore matura- 
tion (Buller 1924). Conscription of dispersal agents is less likely to 
account for light-emitting mycelia, unless mycelial cells pass safely 
through the gut or can be carried to new locations on an arthropod’s 
exoskeleton. 
Attraction of carnivores: Predaceous arthropods were found on 
glowing traps in numbers that border on significance, and fungus/ 
predator interactions can be imagined as important in the evolution 
of bioluminescence. Luminous fungi might concentrate carnivores 
about them by exploiting their “phototropisms.” If predators arrive 
at rates effectively greater than lured fungivores, the resulting 
predator:prey ratio may favor the fungus (an argument similar to 
but more evolutionarily feasible than the “burglar alarm” theory of 
Dinoflagellate luminescence; Burkenroad 1943; see Buck 1978). 
Such an advantageous ratio is not obvious in my sample. Alterna- 
tively, carnivores could seek out luminous fungi as locales of high 
prey density. Glowing mushrooms might be mistaken for lumines- 
cent animal prey. 
Attraction of fungivores: If luminous mycelia are unpalatable, or 
otherwise difficult to ingest, then fungivores attracted to lights 
might consume adjacent competitors. 
Attraction of fertilizers: Lloyd (1974) suggests that arthropods 
lured by luminescent fungus might excrete beneficial materials and 
so aid growth. Any nutritional gain must be balanced by the 
metabolic expense of the signal. 
Repulsion of negatively phototropic fungivores: Bioluminescence 
might repel an organism’s negatively phototropic enemies or com- 
petitors (Nicol 1962; see also Sivinski 1981 and citations). Repulsion 
is particularly plausible in explaining luminous mycelia, some of 
