VOL. Iv.] Contributions to Western Botany. 367 
vegetation as whole, and no possible means of distribution of 
seeds except that of the wind and birds, the former quite strong 
and the latter very scarce. The elevation of the region is at its 
lowest along the river at or near Lee’s Ferry, about 3000 feet 
above the sea, and is warm enough for figs, almonds, and possibly 
oranges; the upper end is at Green River, Utah (not Wyo), 
and Grand Junction, Colorado, a little over 4000 feet above the 
sea, and a most admirable place for grapes, peaches, etc. The 
rainfall will not average over ten inches and for the most part 
will not exceed six inches. The soil is a tenacious and very 
barren clay for the most part, though it is gravelly and sandy on 
the mesas bordering the region. ‘The species of plants found 
peculiar to it so far are about sixty, possibly not so many; the 
species of mammals and reptiles, etc., so far found are about a 
dozen. ‘There are a number of new insects, but I do not know 
just how many. ‘The number of species that are identical with 
the Upper Sonoran of S. Utah and N. Arizona is not very great, 
but the general character of the life is Sonoran. The climate is 
very hot and dry; water is scarce except on the rivers which 
simply pass through the region. The region is almost unin- 
habited and never can support much life; game is scarce, 
and it is a veritable desert. The country is simply a great 
trough with branches, and is bordered with lofty cliffs of 
crumbling sandstones of Triassic age which make it a very 
difficult thing to traverse it except by long detours. At some 
other time I will try to give a list of the flora and fauna of the 
region, and show its relation to the surrounding ones. 
II, SOME NEW SPECIES. 
PHLOX ALBOMARGINATA n. sp. Allied to P. cespitosa, 
‘densely matted flowering stems mostly simple, 1 to 3 inches 
high or none, erect or ascending, 1 to 3 flowered, usually 1-flow- 
ered; leaves 2 to 3 lines long, 1 to 134 wide, rigid, spreading, 
acerose, ovate to lanceolate, usually the latter; general appear- 
ance light green, mid-rib narrow and not prominent, margins 
cartilaginous, thick, white, glabrous except the coarsely hispid 
iliate base, inner surface (that inside the cartilaginous edge) dark 
green, rather loosely pubescent, with short, coarse, white hairs 
on both sides; internodes longer than the leaves, ar gular, white 
