Ch. Xn.] LUMINOUS FUNGUS. 199 



and I was assured by an old resident that he had known 

 seven inches fall ill a single night. There was also thunder 

 and lightning nearly every evening, seldom however coming 

 quite close, hut usually hanging over the mainland, though 

 Pulo Daat seemed to come in for a good share of rain and 

 storm. But, however gloomy and wet the night may have 

 been, the mornings, as a rule, were beautifully fine, and the 

 air from 6 to 9 a.m. delightfully cool and pleasant. After 

 that the sun gained power very rapidly. On the 28th of 

 August, a little before sunset, the sky having its character- 

 istic hazy appearance, I observed very distinctly the pheno- 

 menon of parhelia, or mock-suns — a mock-sun being on 

 either side of the real luminary, and indistinguishable from 

 it in. point of brightness. 



With so much wet it might have been expected that 

 fungi should abound in the jungle. They were not nume- 

 rous, however, though there was one of considerable interest. 

 I had observed, on passing a plantation late in the evening, 

 numerous patches of faint light scattered over the ground 

 and upon the grass ; and picking my way cautiously over 

 stimips and ditches towards it, I found that the Hght pro- 

 ceeded from a fungus growing upon the tree roots, generally, 

 but not always, on old and decaying ones. The fungus is a 

 species of Agaricus, and is pronounced indeed to be the 

 A. Gardneri which grows in Brazil. . It shone with a dis- 

 tinct but pale light, very soft, and of a pale greenish colour, 

 the young specimens appearing to give a more intense light 

 than the older ones. It was of a cream-colour, thin, soft, 

 and fragile, with the texture of a HelveUa, and with white 

 spores. On visiting the spot next day those which had 

 appeared to be fresh and young on the preceding evening 

 were becoming brown, and apparently decaying; so that 



