VEGETATION OF BRITISH BALUCHISTAN. 291 
total absence of forest-growth, causing a very rapid radiation of 
heat. 
Situated in the arid zone, the rainfall is naturally small, that 
at Quetta for eleven years, 1878-1888, being only 8:9 in., whereas 
at Peshin it is very much less, and sometimes at Sibi there is not 
an inch of rain during the year. In the juniper tracts at Ziarat 
and on the high ranges the fall of rain and snow is 1nuch greater 
than at lower altitudes, but no record has hitherto been kept in 
such localities. At Quetta the rainy season is from January to 
April, the rainfall of March being greatest on the average 
(2:1 in.), and again in July and August there are usually short 
and comparatively heavy storms, but the average falls for those 
months do not reach an inch. 
Owing to the hills being so poorly clothed with vegetation, 
the water runs off extremely rapidly, flooding the main river- 
beds in an amazingly short time. These floods often attain 
several feet in height in the Bolan and Hurnai rivers, which 
for a short period become raging torrents, carrying everything 
before them. 
VEGETATION OF BALUCHISTAN. 
Prefatory Remarks by Mr. Hemsley. 
About two years ago Mr. Lace informed me that he was 
botanizing British Baluchistan and forming a herbarium, and 
requested my assistance in the determination of such of the 
plants as he and Dr. G. Watt and Mr. Duthie were unable to 
name with the resources at their disposal in India. He also 
sent the whole of his herbarium to Kew for verification. This 
has been done, not to the very fullest extent critically, but 
sufficiently for all practical purposes, and the few species that 
appeared to be new have been described. There still remains a 
small residuum of undetermined species, due either to the insuf- 
ficiency of the material or to the want of time to work out large 
genera. 
The special interest of this collection is that it represents with 
greater fulness than has hitherto been done the flora of a given 
area of the Afghan region. It is true that this very same area 
has been traversed in the south-western part and botanized by 
