FAIRY LIGHTS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19260, 26 August 1924, Page 8

FAIRY LIGHTS.

IN AUSTRALIAN FORESTS. A WONDERFUL FUNGUS. (From Oca Own Coebespondent.) SYDNEY, August 14. Had the element of superstitious imagery of tho middle ages had scope in the primeval silent forests of Australia, there would doubtless by now have been a_ rich, lore with hobgoblins, witches, fairies, ogres, and all the other pleasant and unpleasant personages who have had their day, not yet unite oyer, in the woodlands of the old lands. But even without their aid some of tho dense forests, almost as dark by day as by night, on the coastal regions are eerie places, and have inherited not a little of the mysteriousness and superstition of the old world in the minds of those whose lives have been cast in their shadow’s. And there are good reasons, for many strange things are to be found in the bosom amongst these giant trees and luxuriant tangles of vines and undergrowth, but nothing stranger than the fairy lamps, or luminous fungi which grow in the almost sunless forests 'oil Gipixsland in Victoria. Botanists have disputed for years as to the cause of the mysterious lights shed by these queer growths without any satisfactory solution of the cause, and it is not to bo wondered at that the less enlighted dvfelLers of tho bush, where scholars wrangle, find supernatural explanations of this and other wonders which meet their eyes. Recently scientific discussions regarding this curious phenomenon has been revived, but as yet with no very conclusive results. The luminous fungus grows out of dead stumps, and on a_ dark night the pale greenish light it gives out is a strange and wonderful sight. The light is quite strong enough to read the time from a watch, and the cause of the growth is still uncertain. The phosphorescence of the sea we know is caused by the decay of innumerable tiny dead creatures whoso bodies form a scum on the water, but in the case of the fungus it is the plant itself that shines. There is no doubt that most fungi are rich in phosphorus; when the ordinary yellow variety that is found adhering to dead logs is dried and lighted, it will smoulder from a spark till not a particle remains. There is also a luminous species found in West Australia.