← Table of contents
Himalayan Journals — Complete

Note 267 — Chapter XXIII

Reading edition

As far as my observations go, this phenomenon of light is confined to the lower orders of vegetable life, to the fungi alone, and is not dependent on irritability. I have never seen luminous flowers or roots, nor do I know of any authenticated instance of such, which may not be explained by the presence of mycelium or of animal life. In the animal kingdom, luminosity is confined, I believe, to the Invertebrata, and is especially common amongst the Radiata and Mollusca; it is also frequent in the Entromostracous Crustacea, and in various genera of most orders of insects. In all these, even in the Sertulariæ, I have invariably observed the light to be increased by irritation, in which respect the luminosity of animal life differs from that of vegetable.

Explore with AITake your curiosity a little further.

Reading settings