same observer. In this case two trees (Erythrina and Detarium) appeared to have been struck simultaneously. Though the da- mage apparent was very slight and confined to the bark, decay began in the Erythrina within ten days. Another Erythrina adjoining died soon after, but the Detarium was unhurt. Another example occurred on Government Hill, when a sugar palm was struck (May 2nd, 1899). The writer saw the tree two hours afterwards and obtained the following account from a native eye-witness. "About half past one there was a single peal of thunder, very near, but I saw no flash, only a general glare. Less than one minute afterwards smoke came from the tree and then flames, about half way up the trunk. The fire went up very quickly and I ordered the tree to be cut down." When the writer saw the tree, the fibrous material which covers these palmis was still smouldering, but the closest examination failed to reveal any traces of damage other than that caused by fire, and the surrounding trees were quite unhurt. Three months afterwards, however, the similar palms in a radius of twelve or fifteen feet from that struck were completely dead.
A remarkable point in this instance is that although the palm struck was over sixty feet in height, and surrounded by others even taller, the flash should have struck it in the middle. Mr. Ridley has noted a similar case in which an explosion took place in the fork of a Rambutan tree only six feet above the ground between the base of the fork and a birds-nest fern, and set fire to the roots of the fern. There was no damage done to this tree except from burns, but a chicken at its base was killed.
The first of the following accounts, furnished by Mr. A. Knight, is of particular interest, as the phenomena noted were of an unusual kind and did not occur during a storm. Mr. Knight writes:—"On the 12th September, 1898, I was driving home from town, and when in the lower part of River Valley Road I saw a flash in front, and there was a loud report which made my pony start forward. On reaching my house, Grassdale, I found that the ladies of my household had been much startled by the explosion. Two of them had been near the entrance, standing facing towards town, while two others were walking from the direction of town and were about a third of a mile from the house. To the former two a flame-coloured flash seemed to fall
