No. III. — PausiUpo and the Logo cTJgnano. 257 



we cannot suppose that his only pond would be that of sea 

 water; and it may pretty safely be affirmed, that no spring of 

 pure water occurs on the banks of this lake. 



But here the difficulty arises, why does this lake appear not 

 to have existed under the Romans ? Some historical and Chris- 

 tian writers of the period of the decline of the empire allude to 

 the district of the Lucullan Villa, and the tower which was 

 employed as a fortification, and retained his name; but we have 

 not a word of the lake, which would probably have been the 

 case, if it had been the fish-pond then fallen into a state of 

 nature. The first mention of Anclanum was in the time of 

 the Normans, and Mazzochi assigns the 9th century as the 

 period of its formation ; but it seems more natural, if we are 

 to fix upon a hypothetical date, to suppose with Breislak that 

 the eruption of the Solfatara which took place in 1198, and 

 desolated the country round by earthquakes, shook the foun- 

 dations of -the valley, and made the water collect in its bottom. 

 The appearances of the country round well correspond with the 

 idea of volcanic action at no great depth, when we recollect that 

 the' Grotto Del Cane, the vapour baths of San Germano, and 

 the hot spring of La Pisciarella occur on its banks. Agnano 

 as it exists at present is a very agreeable spot, the hills around 

 which in some places rise abruptly from the shore being cover- 

 ed with copsewood. The water of the lake is dark-coloured, 

 but not stagnant, though, with that thoughtlessness of conse- 

 quences which so much characterizes the inhabitants of this 

 favoured climate, the practice of steeping flax was formerly 

 carried on here to such an extent in the hot season, as to ren- 

 der the air absolutely pestilential, and compel government to 

 put a stop to the practice. 



In one of my visits to Agnano, (December 7th, 1826,) my at- 

 tention was forcibly directed to the peculiar colour of the water 

 of the lake near its edges. A crimson matter dyed it in zones, 

 parallel I think to the direction of the banks, and part of it 

 was thrown up upon the reeds near the Grotto Del Cane. On 

 examination, it had the appearance of an immense collection 

 of minute organic bodies, all of this uniform crimson colour. 

 I have reason to believe that this appearance continued at least 

 till March 1827. On my return from the Continent, I observ- 



VOL. X. NO. II. APRIL 1829. » 



