168 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



habitants, Tvho regard him as the progenitor of the race. Goats are- 

 frequently brought as offerings to the crocodiles by those wha 

 come to these springs in pilgrimage from Karachi. The temperature of 

 the springs is 133 P., and the Tvater is considered efficacious in all 

 kinds of disease. 



I should add, in mentioning the above facts, that the point intended 

 to be emphasized is rather the maintenance of and veneration paid to 

 the crocodiles by the natives, than that these animals thrive specially 

 under the influence of the hot springs. 



Dr. Thomson has recorded some remarks on the influence of hot 

 springs on the vegetation and animal life at Pugha, where at an eleva- 

 tion of 15,500 feet on the banks of the Indus there are numerous 

 hot springs, in association with which there are considerable deposits- 

 of sulphur and borax. "The hottest spring had a temperature of 

 174 F. From these springs gas was copiously evolved, smelling 

 strongly of sulphur" . . . "The stream which was perhaps 20 feet 

 wide was usually rather deep. Dense masses of aquatic weeds, 

 chiefly species of ZannicheUia and Potamogeton grew in the water 

 ... A small crustaceous animal was common among the weeds 

 . . . The stream was full of fish, which swarmed among the weeds 

 and darted backwards and forwards in the tepid water in immense 

 shoals. They were generally about six inches in length, and appeared 

 to my inexperienced eye to belong to two or three different species 

 from those which had been found at Hanle. In the hottest water of 

 the hot springs I collected three species of conferva. The existence 

 of the tree Myricaria, in the gorges between Pugha and the Indus, 

 which had appeared to us at the time very remarkable, was fully 

 explained by the occui'rence of the hot springs, and the consequent 

 high temperature of the water of the stream, and was peculiarly 

 interesting as an illustration of the influence of temperature on 

 vegetation. It may fairly be considered, I think, as a proof that 

 arboreous vegetation does not cease at great elevations in con- 

 sequence of the rarifaction of the air, but only on account of the 

 diminution of the temperature which usually accompanies increased 

 elevation. The trees of Myricaria, it must be observed, came abruptly 

 to an end with the ravine, none occurring on the open plain. We 

 cannot suppose that the trifling increased elevation caused their 

 disappearance ; it seems probable that the narrow walls of the gorge, 

 by concentrating the heat, prevented its escape, and that therefore 

 the temperature was more elevated than on the open plain, where the 

 action of winds and free radiation combined to lower it." 



