short distance from the bubbling water: it
was most nearly allied to Dillwyn’s Conf.
dissiliens. Conf. vdginata Dillw. flourished
in great perfection on a bank of earth, which
rose immediately from the heated water,
where it was constantly exposed to the steam.
In the same situation, and equally vigorous,
were Gymnostomum fascieulare, Fissidens
kypnoides, and Jungermannia angulosa, all,
except the last, bearing ripe capsules. On
my return, I saw plenty of Snipes, in the
boggy places, and, among the rocks, an arctic
fox * (Canis Lagopus L.) which was
changing its white winter dress for a summer
one, being partly white and partly grey.
These animals are extremely numerous in
* The dusky appearance of this animal, which I
had always supposed was only the summer coat, (or
that of a young fox which had not reached its second
winter,) I find, is noticed by Mr. Pennant, in his Arctic
Zoology, and considered as making a distinct species,
though for what reason I do not see; since he
himself observes that the color of the young fox is
dusky. Kerguelen says there are black, blue, red, and
white foxes in Iceland. It may not be improper to
observe, in this place, that I never saw the common
fox in Iceland, nor heard, from any of the natives, of
its being found there.
this country, living upon the Ptarmigans
and their eggs, as well as upon young lambs:
their fur is thick, but too short for muffs
and tippets of the present day, although in
some of the grey-colored ones it is exceedingly
fine and beautiful. They are sold in fteik-
evig for about one shilling and sixpence a skin.
This fox is probably not to be Considered
as originally a native of Iceland ; for the
Icelanders have a tradition*, that one of the
ancient kings of Norway, to punish the inhabitants
for their disaffection to the mother
country, sent over some foxes to the island,
where they have rapidly increased, to the
great injury of the flocks. The few rats and
mice ■f-, that are said to exist here, are
* This tradition, in all probability, rests upon no
better authority than one which is prevalent in Ireland,
that the breed o f magpies, which now infest that
island to such a degree, as to be highly injurious, was
originally imported by the English to plague them. It
is more likely, if the Icelandic foxes be hot really natives
of the country, that they found their way thither
from the neighboring coast of Greenland on the floating
masses of ice.
t Speaking of the native animals of Iceland, Pennant,.
in his Arctic Zoology, Introduction, page lx-x.
suspects, “ that there is a species allied, as Doctor