273 
The plains are mostly covered by short grasses, the so-called 
Buffalo grasses. In the hot dry autumn, these become self-cured, 
and form an excellent winter pasture for the stock. A little hay 
is cut on the lowlands and fed to the animals during snowstorms. 
Otherwise the cattle and horses feed out during the whole winter. 
The Buffalo grasses are: the original Buffalo grass, bulbs dacty- 
‘odes, Blue and Black Grama, Bouteloua oligostachya and B, hir- 
suta and “ Nigger Heads,” Carex filifolia. 
In a region where the rainfall is comparatively scant and dis- 
tributed only during certain seasons of the year, the plants must 
be so constituted as to be able to withstand a good deal of drought» 
In other words the evaporation must either be reduced to a mini- 
mum or the plant must have special stores of water. The planst 
peculiar to this region may be divided into the following groups: 
I. Very hairy plants generally covered by thick pannose 
pubescence, which retain the moisture; as species of Eviogonum, 
Astragalus, Lturona, Senecio, volvulus and Artemisia. 
2. Plants with glaucous foliage having a hard epidermis, as 
Yucca glauca, Rumex venosus, Argemone alba,and several grasses. 
3. Plants with white often shreddy bark, as species of Mentzelia 
and Anogra. 
4. Plants with very narrow and often involute leaves, as Lygo- 
desmia juncea, L. rostrata and several grasses and sedges. 
5. Plants with fleshy stems in which the surface is reduced to 
@ minimum and no leaves as the Cacti. 
6. Plants with a deep-seated, enlarged root as the Bush Morn- | 
ing glory, Jpomoea leptophylla, and the Wild Pumpkin, Cucurbita 
Soetidissima. Mr. Rydberg had seen a root of the former three : 
feet long and almost two feet in diameter. 
7. Plants covered with glands, containing essential oils, as 
Dysodia papposa and Pectis angustifolia. The oils are supposed by 
some to have a cooling effect, partly by taking up heat when 
evaporated, and partly by surrounding the plant with a cooler at- : a 
mosphere, their specific heat being much less than the air. 
Numerous specimens were exhibited. 
Two papers followed by Dr. J. K. Small, (a) “The Sessile- 
flowered Trillia of the Southern states.” (b) - tte saps Eo ‘ 
ceae.”’ Both papers are published in the April anes a he BE 
