diff --git a/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/util/ByteStringSpec.scala b/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/util/ByteStringSpec.scala
index 396fcd6b00..8700c50336 100644
--- a/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/util/ByteStringSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/util/ByteStringSpec.scala
@@ -183,7 +183,12 @@ class ByteStringSpec extends WordSpec with MustMatchers with Checkers {
       "calling hasNext" in { check { a: ByteString ⇒ likeVecIt(a) { _.hasNext } } }
       "calling length" in { check { a: ByteString ⇒ likeVecIt(a) { _.length } } }
       "calling duplicate" in { check { a: ByteString ⇒ likeVecIt(a)({ _.duplicate match { case (a, b) ⇒ (a.toSeq, b.toSeq) } }, strict = false) } }
-      "calling span" in { check { (a: ByteString, b: Byte) ⇒ likeVecIt(a)({ _.span(_ == b) match { case (a, b) ⇒ (a.toSeq, b.toSeq) } }, strict = false) } }
+
+      // Have to used toList instead of toSeq here, iterator.span (new in
+      // Scala-2.9) seems to be broken in combination with toSeq for the
+      // scala.collection default Iterator (see Scala issue SI-5838).
+      "calling span" in { check { (a: ByteString, b: Byte) ⇒ likeVecIt(a)({ _.span(_ == b) match { case (a, b) ⇒ (a.toList, b.toList) } }, strict = false) } }
+
       "calling takeWhile" in { check { (a: ByteString, b: Byte) ⇒ likeVecIt(a)({ _.takeWhile(_ == b).toSeq }, strict = false) } }
       "calling dropWhile" in { check { (a: ByteString, b: Byte) ⇒ likeVecIt(a) { _.dropWhile(_ == b).toSeq } } }
       "calling indexWhere" in { check { (a: ByteString, b: Byte) ⇒ likeVecIt(a) { _.indexWhere(_ == b) } } }