ON THE BOTANY AND ENTOMOLOGY OF ICELAND. 211 
near their point of confluence with the lake. The hot 
springs of Laug above mentioned will next claim a visit, 
and in his progress thither, as well as in the neighbourhood 
of the observatory, he will note for the first time many of 
the alpine plants that will shortly greet him along most, if 
not all of his ride, successively to Thingvellir and the 
Geysir, such as Dryas octopetala, that bears such a close super- 
ficial resemblance to our own wood anemone. Cerastium 
alpinum, Silene acaulis, Armeria maritima, Pinguicula vul- 
garis, and Viola canina, this last of unusually large size, but 
in the midst of all his observations, he will do well to make 
a cautious as well as wide stride, as he steps from one 
hillock to another, to avoid the soft and treacherous chaly- 
beate mud, as “ experto crede,” it is particularly bad walking 
and tiring work to cover the distance intervening between 
the springs of Laug and the new road above. 
Should the traveller’s visit to Thingvellir take place in 
the middle of July, the first tiny blue stars of Gentiana nivalis 
will welcome him on his walk from the parsonage, in the 
direction of the historic Légberg, or “ Hill of Laws,” all the 
more grateful because the last part of his 35 miles ride 
thither from the capital has been over the desolate extent of 
the weary Mossfell moor, for on that elevated plateau, or 
“‘heithi,” as commonly termed in Icelandic, there are pleuty 
of bare hillocks of indurated earth for one’s pony to stumble 
over, but flowers are few and far between. This is not, 
however, the case with every “heithi;” the prevalence or 
absence of flowers will, of course, largely depend on the 
amount of elevation and exposure of the particular plateau, 
the time of year, and the nature of the soil. When I visited 
the stretch of moor, during the first week of August, above 
the cliffs of Saudarkrok and those of Akureyri in the north 
of Iceland, I found it completely covered with the feathery 
seed-vessels of Dryas octopetala, showing what a garden 
of wild flowers must have decorated that windy region 
only two or three weeks before. The following 1s Baring 
Gould’s definition of a ‘heithi, p. 63, of his Iceland :— 
“High land which can be traversed by horses is called a 
‘*heithi.” It is either without vegetation, or covered with 
moss, lichen, Dryas octopetala, and Silene acaulis.” 
To resume, Menyanthes trifoliata will be hailed as an old 
‘English acquaintance covering the pools and boggy ground 
tu the N. of Thingvalla lake, Eriophorum angustifolium, 
with its three or four fluffy tassels will be found also in the 
direction of the Légberg, and along with, though much 
