222 



wliat distinct fi-om each other in the charaeter of their ]irodominant 

 species. The natural boundary, it is true, wouUl follow a /ijizaj^ 

 conrse, crossing tliis line tuany times, hut its avrag*' course would lie 

 jnst about on this meridian. Going westward, such species as the fol- 

 lowing first make their appearance at this line: Astragal as moUisshnus 

 Torr. ("loco"), Oalllardia pulchella Fong., Malvastrumcoecineum Gray, 

 Artemisia fili/olia Torr. {"sagebrush"), A. Wri<jhUl Gray, etc., while 

 others, thongli occasionally found oast of this line, now become more 

 largely predominant, as (laiUardia lanceolata Mx., Yitcca anf/tisti/olia 

 Pursh ("Mexican soap-plant"), 8<tlanum eJamgnifoJinm Cav., Evolrulus 

 argenteus Pnrsh, the grama grasses and several of the Drop-seed grasses. 



And so, almost immediately after passing the meridian near King- 

 fisher, the flora of this district begins to exhibit the distinctive char- 

 acter common to the western Great Plains. 



J)nring the season of IHIM there was an excellent growth of gr.asses 

 nearly all over this district, consisting mainly of the bbie-stems {An- 

 dropogon prorincialis Lam., A. nutans Ijinn., and A. HallH Hack., v. 

 Jlarcolns Hack.), interspersed throughout with a rich carpet of liuifalo 

 grass. But the season was an exceptionally wet one. 



A very brilliant erynginm (Erynglmn dlffasum Torr.) gives pleasing 

 variety in some places to the usual monotony of this district; while 

 there are densely grown patches of the following species, scattered here 

 and there: Rudbeckia liirta L., Monarda dtriodora ()erv., HosaeMa Vur- 

 shiana Benth., t^olamim ela'agnifoUam Cav., and Phaseolm paueiilorus 

 Benth. The last three are often found growing together in prairie- 

 dog towns, sometimes with GalUrrhoe involiwrata Gray, and occasion- 

 ally MarU/nia prohoseidca Glox. 



In tlie Xorth Canadian Valley a curious velvet-flowered crucifer 

 {StrcptanthuH hi/aelnthoides Hook.) appears as a species rather rare in 

 this district, so far as I have observed, and on the south side of tho 

 same river, where the country is much different from the north side, 

 Lcspcdeza reticulata Pers. is occasionally found mingling with the more 

 common L. eapifatalslx. Then the Gypsum Hills have their peculiar 

 flora, to which I shall refer again. Although the greater portion of 

 this district will probably continue to be adapted otdy to the practice 

 of stock-raising, still there is no good reason why the eastern part may 

 not become a fine wheat-growing country, especially since it lies maiidy 

 south of the counties of Harper and Barber, in Kansas, which have 

 already made a good record as a wheat-producing region. Besides, the 

 amount of rainfall, in the same longitude, seems to increase toward t\:& 

 south. 



SOUTHWEST KATs^SAS, 



Until during the last three years the plants of this district have been 

 very little known to botanists, and now the results of recent collections 

 disclose to us a flora rich in interesting forms, both in the way of add- 



