Sunday,

June 25.

This morning, I visited the more elevated parts of the country about Reikevig, and found them composed wholly of broken, and generally small, pieces of rock, for the most part perfectly barren; though in places, here and there, were some patches of vegetation, among which I met with a few interesting plants. Vaccinium uliginosum was abundant, and its charming blossoms delighted me much, the more so as I had never previously seen it in perfection. Dryas octopetala, of which the inhabitants gather the leaves and make a sort of tea of them was every where extremely common, but hardly yet in flower, and the same was the case with Lychnis alpina. A remarkably woolly-leaved Salix, which I took for lanata, and two or three other species, of stunted growth, were the only plants that elevated themselves to the height of even five or six inches from the ground. Saxifraga (tricuspidata? Fl. Scandin.) grew plentifully among the rocks; which also produced Splachnum vasculosum and mnioides, though sparingly; but I was most pleased with a fine new species of Cornicularia, allied to C. bicolor, but three or four times as large, and all over of a

grey color. I met with only one patch of it, intermixed with Trichostomum canescens, in a rocky situation. From these hills, though at a considerable distance, I could perceive the steam from the hot spring, and, taking a different route from what I had done when I made a former attempt, I at length, with some difficulty, arrived at it. While yet full a mile from the spot, the superior verdure of the grass, that was within the influence of the heat, was very remark→ able. What struck me as most extraordinary in this spring, though I afterwards found it not to be uncommon in Iceland, was the circumstance of its being actually situated in the middle of a cold stream, bubbling up from some little cavities, which were formed in a whitish siliceous incrustation, that covered a considerable portion of the bed of the river, and extended on one side of it, even as far the shore, where its surface was covered with numerous minute mammillæ. This incrustation is a deposit from the water, and the mammillæ are probably caused by the irregular falling of the water upon it in drops. On dipping in the water my little pocket thermometer, which was graduated to

no more than 120° of Fahrenheit's scale, but was the only one I had with me at the time, the quicksilver instantly rose to the top of the tube. I found lying dead in the hot water a number of eels*, not more than four or five inches long: these had, doubtless, been conveyed down by the rapidity of the current to the heated part of the water, which, as it affects the whole width of the stream, must be an effectual barrier to the migration of fish, and of other aquatic animals. I remarked, however, no others in this water, except one or two specimens of a Dyticus, which I was not able to catch, but which appeared to be the same as our D. acuductus. Almost in the hottest part of the water, I gathered Conferva spiralis Dillw.; but it had lost all its color, and had probably only floated into that situation, not being really a native of it: a species, also, which appeared to me to be new, grew attached to the banks, at a very

* Povelsen and Olafsen have mentioned the circumstance of small eels being found dead near the heated waters of Iceland, and remark that, although large eels are known to exist in the river, they have never been met with lying dead, as the smaller ones.

short distance from the bubbling water: it was most nearly allied to Dillwyn's Conf. dissiliens. Conf. vaginata Dillw. flourished in great perfection on a bank of earth, which rose immediately from the heated water, where it was constantly exposed to the steam. In the same situation, and equally vigorous, were Gymnostomum fasciculare, Fissidens hypnoides, and Jungermannia angulosa, all, except the last, bearing ripe capsules. On my return, I saw plenty of Snipes, in the boggy places, and, among the rocks, an arctic fox* (Canis Lagopus L.) which was changing its white winter dress for a summer one, being partly white and partly grey. These animals are extremely numerous in

The dusky appearance of this animal, which I had always supposed was only the summer coat, (or that of a young fox which had not reached its second winter,) I find, is noticed by Mr. Pennant, in his Arctic Zoology, and considered as making a distinct species, though for what reason I do not see; since he himself observes that the color of the young fox is dusky. Kerguelen says there are black, blue, red, and white foxes in Iceland. It may not be improper to observe, in this place, that I never saw the common fox in Iceland, nor heard, from any of the natives, of its being found there.

this country, living upon the Ptarmigans and their eggs, as well as upon young lambs: their fur is thick, but too short for muffs and tippets of the present day, although in some of the grey-colored ones it is exceedingly fine and beautiful. They are sold in Reikevig for about one shilling and sixpence a skin. This fox is probably not to be considered ás originally a native of Iceland; for the Icelanders have a tradition*, that one of the ancient kings of Norway, to punish the inhabitants for their disaffection to the mother country, sent over some foxes to the island, where they have rapidly increased, to the great injury of the flocks. The few rats and mice, that are said to exist here, are

*This tradition, in all probability, rests upon no better authority than one which is prevalent in Ireland, that the breed of magpies, which now infest that island to such a degree, as to be highly injurious, was originally imported by the English to plague them. Ít is more likely, if the Icelandic foxes be not really natives of the country, that they found their way thither from the neighboring coast of Greenland on the floating masses of ice.

Speaking of the native animals of Iceland, Pennant, in his Arctic Zoology, Introduction, page lxx. suspects, "that there is a species allied, as Doctor