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Show ANNOTATIONS AND ADDITIONS. 109 and by the teppe between Barnaul and the Serpent 1\lountain and the country on the east of the Ca pian. Here Chenopodias, some species of Salsola and Atriplex, Salicornias and Halimocnemis crassifolia, (each species growing "socially,") form patches of vegetation on the muddy ground. See Gobel's Journey in the Steppes of the South of Russia (Reise in die Steppe des siidlichen Russlands, 1838, th. ii. s. 244 and 301). Of the 500 phanerogamous species which Claus and Gobel collected in the Steppes, the Syrantherre, the Chenopodere, and the Cruciferre, were more numerous than the grasses; the latter being only 1\-th of the whole, and the former +th and tth. In Germany, from the mixture of hill and plain districts, the Glumacere (i. e. the Graminere, Cyperacere, and Juncacere collectively) form +th; the Synantherre or Compositre j-th; and the Cruciferre 1 '8th of all our German phanerogamia. In the most northern parts of the fiat Siberian lowlands, the fine map of Admiral Wrangell shows that the extreme northern limit of tree and shrub vegetation (Coniferro and Amentacere) is, in the portion towards the Behring's Straits side, in 67t0 lat.; and more to the west, towards the banks of the Lena, in 71 o, which is the parallel of the north cape of Lapland. The plains which border the Icy Sea are the domain of cryptogamous plants. They are called Tundras (Tuntur, in Finnish): they are swampy districts extending farther than the eye can reach, partly covered with a thick carpet of Sphagnum palustre and other mosses, and partly with a dry snow-white covering of Cenomyce rangiferina (Reindeer moss), Stereocaulon paschale, and other lichens. Admiral Wrangell, in describing his perilous expedition to the new Siberian islands so rich in fossil wood, says : "These Tundras accompanied me to the extreme arctic coast. Their soil has been frozen for thousands of years. In the dreary uniformity of landscape, the eye of the traveller, surrounded by reindeer moss, dwells with pleasure on the smallest patch of green turf showing itself now and then on a moist spot." (:ts) p. 30.-" The causes which lessen both heat and dryness in the New World." I have tried to bring together in a brief and compendious manner the various causes which produce greater moisture and a less degree 10 |