TRANSAOTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 91 
were exhibited to the Section and burnt; where they gave as good a light as those 
from any other oleaginous compound used for this purpose. 
Mr. J. F. Duncan forwarded a fruit in many respects resembling an orange which 
he had observed to grow abundantly in Africa. When pulled from the tree in a 
ripe state the interior substance is about the consistence of an orange, and is con- 
sidered superior to anything manufactured in England, as soap. 
On the Foliage and Inflorescence of the genera Phyllanthus and Xylophylia. 
By B. Crarxe, F.L.S. 
The leafy appendages from which the flowers in most of the species of these genera 
spring have been described by authors in general, up to the present time, as branches. 
The author, having examined their structure and relations closely, has come to the 
conclusion that they are in almost all cases true leaves. Several species of the 
genera Phyllanthus and Xylophylla were described, and the author’s views of their 
structure explained by drawings. In conclusion, he suggested whether the additional 
leaf-buds which are sometimes seen in the axils of leaves do not originate from the 
base of the petiole. Such buds occur in the genus Rubus ; in some species of which 
the additional bud is developed beneath the axillary bud instead of on one side of it. 
The following letter from the Hon. F, Strangways was communicated by Sir R. I. 
Murchison, G.S.St.S. :—In the neighbourhood of Alexandersbad, near Wunsiedel, a 
few miles south of the road from Bayreuth to Eger, in the Fichtelgebirge, is a moun- 
tain called now the Louisenberg—formerly the Luchsberg—which is much visited by 
strangers on account of some of its natural peculiarities. It appears not to consist of 
any mass of rock in situ, but to be an enormous heap of disconnected, but rounded 
fragments of granite, thrown confusedly upon one another, leaving arches and pas- 
sages and grottoes of various sizes wherever the interstices have not been filled up 
with smaller pieces, together with granitic gravel. The whole is so overgrown with 
wood, that, except where paths have been made, it is difficult to penetrate. The round- 
ing of the blocks seems to be rather the effect of disintegration than of water. One of 
the caverns or chambers, formed by a single flat table of granite resting horizcntally, 
as a roof, upon other masses, is a tolerably exact circle of nearly sixty feet English in 
diameter. Many that penetrate deeper into the mountain or mass of rocks are mere 
crevices; but they present a remarkable phenomenon, which is not observable in the 
more open ones. This phenomenon consists in a pale but beautiful greenish-yellow 
phosphorescent light, which, as the observer proceeds into the cave, becomes stronger 
and stronger, till it can be compared only to that of hundreds of glowworms lying 
close tcgether on the ground; and it is singular that the light, however strong it 
may be, does not assume the appearance of a sheet, but always seems to lie in spots, 
though close together, On taking up some of the mould upon which this phospho- 
rescence appears to rest and bringing it to daylight, its own light, as might be ex- 
pected, is overcome, and disappears; nothing being seen in the hand but the black 
earth, a little sand, some minute whitish cryptogamic powder (?) and a few fronds 
of a very small filmy moss of a pale, transparent green colour. On taking the mould 
back into the darkness, the phosphorescence re-appears, but so much dimmed that it 
should seem as if the s!ightest disturbance had a tendency to dissipate it, and that it 
required time and repose to form or collect it anew. The traditions of the country, 
or rather the superstitions, have long pointed out this mountain both as the reposi- 
tory of gcld and precious stones, and as the abode of evil spirits, or Kobolds, who 
amuse themselves by tantalizing credulous mortals with the view of gems and riches 
without end, which, when touched, are turned into dross or vanish from the sight. 
The explanation given by this phenomenon to such a belief, current among a simple 
and imaginative people, is evident. The original name of the mountain itself, 
Luchsberg, i.e. Lynxberg, is somewhat expressive of this peculiarity. 
