The phosphorescence of plants, though not so remarkable in its general manifestations as in the forms previously reviewed, is sufficiently interesting to attract general attention. In nearly all countries these vegetable lamps are found; and even in the old legends of the Greeks, Hindus, and Persians, references to the “burning bush,” and other luminous phenomena are met with, evidently having some foundation in fact. In India the old natives tell the story, that their forefathers, who visited the mountain of Sufed Koh, at the north of Nalroo in Afghanistan, found a spring in which grew a bush which, from a distance, seemed to emit a brilliant light; but if any one approached, it immediately disappeared, vanishing in the air. In 1845 the white residents of Simla were informed by the natives that a wonderful plant was illuminating the mountains near Syree; and those who investigated it expressed the belief that the light, if it existed at all, came from a species of _Dictamnus_, which was known to grow about Gungotree and Jumnotree. Even in Josephus we find reference to the luminosity of plants. “There is a certain place,” he says, “called Baaras, which produces a root of the same name with itself; its color is like to that of flame, and towards evening it sends out a certain ray like lightning; it is not easily taken by such as would do it, but recedes from their hands.” In the “Proceedings of the Royal Asiatic Society” of April, 1845, there is reference to a luminous root-stock found in the Oraghum jungles, “gleaming in the dark with all the vividness of a glow-worm, or the electric scolopendra, after having been moistened with a wet cloth applied to its surface for an hour or two, and did not seem to lose the property by use, becoming lustreless when dry, and lighting up again whenever moistened.” It is probable that this is the plant which is referred to by the Brahmins as _Jyotismati_, produced, it is said, by a variety of _Cardiospermum_. According to Sanscrit authorities, it abounds in the Himalaya Mountains; and is well known, according to Major Madden, at Almora, where investigation showed it to be, at least in this locality, the roots of the fragrant khus-khus grass, which at certain times, as rainy nights, was luminous.