158 Vew- Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



impossible that this phenomenon is due in some 

 degree to an electrical state of the atmosphere. 

 Certainly in this case a tremendous thunderstorm 

 was just beginning. 



Luminosity in fungous growth is also noticed by 

 Pliny : ^— 



' Galliarum Q-landiferse maxime arbores aofaricum 

 ferunt {i.e. larices). Est autem fungus candidus, 

 antidotis efficax in summis arboribus nascens, node 

 re luce ns.' 



Sir Joseph Hooker says that — 



' The phenomenon of phosphorescence is most 

 conspicuous on stacks of firewood. At Darjiling, 

 during the damp warm summer months, at eleva- 

 tions of 5000 to 8000 feet, it may be witnessed 

 every night by penetrating a few yards into the 

 forest. ... A stack of firewood, collected near my 

 host's (Mr. Hodgson) cottage, presented a beautiful 

 spectacle for two months (in July and August), and 

 on passing it at night, I had to quiet my pony, who 

 was always alarmed at it.'^ 



It may appear strange that in Domesday Book, 

 where forest trees are mentioned, there is so little 

 notice taken of the yew, which even at that time 

 must have been of sufficient value to need some 

 degree of care. Dr. Bright assumes, apparently 

 with good reason, that those trees are chiefly 



^ Hist., Lib, xvi. par. xiii. 



" Himalayan Journals, vol. ii. p. 15 1. 



