Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 1 (1897).djvu/335

Rh phosphorescence in connection with the Brandling. It was one warm July night in 1881, when he was exploring a dung-heap. (Naturalists do not usually work with kid gloves and diamond rings.) Presently a spot of soft, bluish white light appeared, which, however, was changeful and unsteady. Now it would disappear, then return anew and shine forth over a larger space, though never with a brilliant hue. He thereupon removed a portion of the manure from the spot where he had observed the luminosity, and found that the light appeared brighter, and shone for a longer time without disappearing, or before it migrated to another spot. By means of a lantern Vejdovsky was able to secure a large number of specimens of the Brandling from the dung-heap, which he placed in a vessel for the purpose of subjecting them to careful observation. To his great surprise he found that his finger soon glowed in the darkness with the phosphorescence, which extended generally over the hand where it came into contact with the worms. It was therefore apparent that the luminosity was the product of a fluid secreted by the cutaneous glands, which had attached itself to the hand of the investigator, and now manifested itself in this curious way.

We have an interesting observation on the same subject by Prof. Von Stein, which was published at Leipzig in 1883. One evening in the middle of September, the Professor was spending some time with a circle of friends at a parsonage not far from Potsdam, when the conversation turned upon phosphorescence and the phenomena of light. Hereupon one of the younger members of the family—who are usually the keenest and most shrewd observers of Nature, and the best friends of the naturalist —remarked that there were fountains in the adjoining gardens, the water from which was frequently observed to be full of lightbearing creatures when it was violently agitated. He regarded the affair at first simply as a hoax, or an attempt to make a fool of him,—as people are ever ready to do with a hobby rider,—but ascertained eventually that the luminosity was due to the presence of a species of Worm which possessed the property of shining when disturbed. As with Vejdovsky, so with Prof. Von Stein, the finger which had come into contact with the Worm continued to glow for some time after. What species of Worm was under observation is not recorded.