88 Dr Lauder Lindsay on the Flora of Iceland. 
This account of the vegetation around the hot springs of 
Laugarness does not apparently accord with Mr Babington’s 
description of that of the vicinity of the Geysers. “The ' 
neighbourhood of the Geysers does not,” he says, *‘ appear to 
be rich in plants; nor does the hot water, which issues from 
the ground in a state of active ebullition, seem to hasten their 
growth. I could not perceive that individuals growing in the 
warm mud by the side of steaming currents were at all more 
forward than others at a distance from the heated spots” 
(p. 16). I have every reason to believe, however, that the 
vegetation in and around the Laugar hot springs, as described 
above from personal observation, represents generally that of 
the hot springs of Iceland; and not only so, but that of hot 
springs in similar positions in every quarter of the world. This 
is strikingly borne out by Dr Hooker’s description of the vege- 
tation of certain hot springs in India and the Himalayas. The 
vegetation of those visited by Dr Hooker and myself respec- 
tively in distant and opposite portions of the globe is won- 
derfully alike; so much so that two Conferve described by 
Dr Hooker as growing in the hot springs of Soorujkoond, 
near Burdwan, Behar, India, so far as external characters are 
concerned, might be identical with the two I gathered in those 
of Laugarness. The Indian springs in question have tempe- 
ratures respectively of 169°, 170°, 173°, and 190°. “Conferve 
abound in the warm stream from the springs, and two species, 
one ochreous brown and the other green, occur on the mar- 
gins of the tanks themselves, and in the hottest water. The 
brown is the best salamander, and forms a belt in deeper 
water than the green. Both appear in broad luxuriant strata 
wherever the temperature is cooled down to 168°, and as low 
as 90°.” (Dr Hooker’s Himalayan Journals, vol. i. p. 27.) 
“Of flowering plants, three showed in an eminent degree a 
constitution capable of resisting the heat, if not a predilection 
for it. These were all Cyperacew,—a Cyperus and an Eleo- 
charis having their roots in water of 100°, and where they are 
probably exposed to greater heat” (p. 28). ‘* From the 
edges of the four hot springs, I gathered sixteen species of 
flowering plants” (p. 28). Dr Hooker also mentions a 
Conferva as growing in the hot springs at Yeumtong, in the 
