54 Bulletin Santa Barbara Society of Natural History. Vol, I. 



my visit the surface was strewn with quantities of grass- 

 hoppers that had evidently perished either from the 

 heat or deleterious gases. 



The second group of "Fire Wells" visited are about 

 three-fourths of a mile below a point where the Rincon 

 Creek enters the sea and near the carriage road and 

 railway leading from Santa Barbara to Ventura. Be- 

 fore the grading of the railway was accomplished, the 

 traveler by the beach road might have noticed some 

 peculiar looking rocks that had fallen from the cliffs 

 above. The rocks appear to have been originally sim- 

 ilar to those composing the mass of the exposed por- 

 tion of the cliff, which are principally light colored 

 shales, but their character, both in density, specific 

 gravity and color, has been altered by the action of 

 mineral gases and great heat. Nearly all shades of 

 red, yellow and brown, and in some cases green, are 

 colors represented. The intensity of the heat at some 

 former period seems to have contracted the strata 

 through semi-fusion until it is excessively hard and 

 gives a metallic ring when struck with a hammer. 

 Reaching by an easy path a point about 300 feet above 

 the base of the cliff, I was at once aware of the near 

 existence of the "Solfatara" or so-called "Rincon Vol- 

 cano" by the same exceedingly disagreeable odors that 

 were noted in the Santa Ynez issue. 



Descending twenty or thirty feet I found hot gases 

 bursting from numerous apertures in the shales, ac- 

 companied in some cases by melted bitumen that har- 

 dened in concretionary masses upon cooling. The dip 

 of the strata was at an angle of 50 towards the moun- 

 tain. Crystals of sulphur had also formed upon all ob- 

 jects near the issue and naptha appeared to be present. 

 A few years ago a tunnel was run into the cliff at its 

 base to the depth of 200 feet in search of oil. At this 

 depth the workmen were obliged to cease operations 

 in their endeavor to penetrate further on account of 

 the great heat. Upon entering this tunnel I found 

 the temperature still high but noticed only weak sul- 

 phurous gases. Near the entrance for fifty or six- 



