. Phosphorescence; or, The emission of light by minerals, plants, and animals. e time, this Lumhric 132 PHOSPHORESCENCE was not pliospliorescent. All present were greatlysurprised, and so was M. Audouin, when thelatter_, removing some earth from the flowerpot,soon discovered six small Scolojpendra belongingto the species 8. electrica of Linnaeus. Theirphosphoric light was indeed vivid enough. Going afterwards into the chicory-field, observed this phosphorescence on agrand scale. At first he saw only a few streaksof light upon the soil; but, having ordered someof the earth to be dug u
. Phosphorescence; or, The emission of light by minerals, plants, and animals. e time, this Lumhric 132 PHOSPHORESCENCE was not pliospliorescent. All present were greatlysurprised, and so was M. Audouin, when thelatter_, removing some earth from the flowerpot,soon discovered six small Scolojpendra belongingto the species 8. electrica of Linnaeus. Theirphosphoric light was indeed vivid enough. Going afterwards into the chicory-field, observed this phosphorescence on agrand scale. At first he saw only a few streaksof light upon the soil; but, having ordered someof the earth to be dug up, the spectacle that pre-sented itself was truly magnificent. The up-heaved soil appeared everywhere sprinkled withphosphoric radiations, and if some of it was trod-den upon or rubbed between the hands, streaksof light were produced which remained visible foreight, ten, and twenty seconds. Many persons have witnessed the luminousphenomenon of S. electrica, and their observationscoincide precisely with those just related. Scolojoendra electrica (fig. 24) and S. jjhosjphorea. Fig. 2-t. are the only two species that are known with cer-tainty to be highly phosphorescent. But it is OF SCOLOPENBRA. 133 probable that future observations will furnish uswith others. The 8. electrica of Linngeus is notuncommon in England, Belgium, France, light is seldom seen, in consequence of its ha-bit of living in holes in the soil; but it is some-times to be met with in outhouses or crawlino-along some secluded pathway, leaving a track ofphosphoric matter behind. It is about an inchand a half long, its diameter being scarcely morethan one-tenth of an inch; its colour is a duskybrown, and its legs, which are one hundred andforty in number (seventy upon each side of theanimal^s body), are of a yellowish hue.* We know very little of S. iiliospliorca, whichappears to be a native of Asia. Some authors state that 8. eleotrica is onlyphosphorescent when in motion, and that its lightcannot be disce
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