HOT SPRING. 
41 
of the tube. I found lying dead in the hot water 
a number of eels *, not more than four or five 
inches long: these had, doubtless, been con¬ 
veyed down by the rapidity of the current to 
the heated part of the water, which, as it affects 
the whole width of the stream, must be an 
effectual barrier to the migration of fish, and 
other aquatic animals: I remarked, however, no 
others in this water, except one or two specimens 
of a Dyticus , which I was not able to catch, 
but which appeared to be the same as our 
D. acuductus. Almost in the hottest part of 
the water, I gathered Conferva spiralis Dilhv.; 
but it had lost all its color, and had probably 
only floated into that situation, not being really 
a native of it; a species, also, which appeared to 
me to be new, grew attached to the banks, at a 
very short distance from the bubbling water: it 
was most nearly allied to Dillwyn’s Conf dissi- 
liens. Conf vaginal a Dilhv. flourished in great 
perfection on a bank of earth, which rose im¬ 
mediately from the heated water, where it was 
constantly exposed to the steam. In the same 
situation, and equally vigorous, were Gymnos- 
tomum fasciculare, Fissidens hypnoides , and 
* Povelsen and Olafsen have mentioned the circumstance 
of small eels being found dead near the heated waters of 
Iceland, and remark that, although large eels are known to 
exist in the river, they have never been met with lying dead* 
as the smaller ones. 
