ON THE BOTANY AND ENTOMOLOGY OF ICELAND. 245 
blue of the water below the surface of the pools cf Blesi, 
as well as their white calcareous rocks far below their sub- 
aqueous depths, present marvellous beauty of colouring. 
Some distance beneath may be descried a natural arch of 
stone, that at first sight appears to be a dividing wall, and 
may possibly have been formed by successive deposits of 
incrustation; but on looking carefully the waters will be 
seen to be united below as well as above. There is also a 
small channel in the surface of the rock that extends from 
the tops of the pools of Blesi in the direction of the great 
Geysir. The water of Blesi and that of the great Geysir are 
too hot to bear one’s hand in more than momentarily, but 
that of the latter is not at all amiss to taste, having only a 
slight burnt taste, when it has cooled a little. A small over- 
flow of the great Geysir did take place after our arrival, the 
fountain, accompanied by clouds of steam, rising probably to 
the height of 10 feet. Warned by the rumbling of the 
ground, like pistol shots, beneath where I was standing, I 
was the first to call the attention of Mr. Henstock and the 
guides to the fact, and we thought it was about to erupt a 
second time, but it only proved to be the usual after-flow 
previous to its finally subsiding mto its basin. Another 
small spouting of the little Geysir also ensued, similar to the 
one it displayed last might. Strokkr consists of a circular 
well-like rocky opening, level with the surface of the very 
gradual slope, inferior in elevation to the basin of the great 
Geysir, but above the little Geysir, and its bubbling water is 
several feet below the opening, except during the few 
minutes of eruption, whenever it occurs, and which we strove 
in vain to bring about by the usual method of having a 
quantity of turf brought up on pony back from the valley 
beneath, and cast in; but in spite of all our efforts, it 
remained quiescent, and is commonly reported to have been 
choked by an overdose of stones and earth last year, ad- 
ministered, according to some, by some Americans; though 
the farmer, on whose property it stands, charges a well- 
known guide, who, however, [ have heard strenuously deny 
it, with having done it. The well of Geysir is situated in the 
very middle of its steaming basin, which is upwards of 40 feet 
across, while the well itself may possibly be 6 feet in diameter ; 
the ground, of course, gradually shelving down from the c¢ir- 
cumference towards it. When photographed, tugetner with 
its basin, I took my stand firmly on the very edge, only about 
3 inches from the hot water. There were any number of 
Noctue flitting about, and also frequently settled on the 
