152 BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 
having stood so low as 17° of Fahr. below zero. The day of our visit 
was the 22nd of June. The general thawing had commenced in the 
beginning of April, yet snow was still to be seen in ravines and shady 
places. On the southern slopes of the hills spring-flowers were already 
blooming ; among them, Trillium obovatum, Veratrum viride ! Y Clematis 
Sibirica, Corydalis ambigua, Rubus arcticus, Potentilla anserina, Veronica 
Stelleri, and an Orchis resembling the O. maculata. The people were 
just commencing to prepare the ground, and to reconstruct the fences 
around their town-gardens, which they pull down every autumn, in 
order to prevent the snow from accumulating, and to open a free pas- 
sage for the driving of sledges—their principal amusement during the 
long winter. No grain of any kind is grown in the southern parts of 
the peninsula. I am assured, however, that at Cape Kamtschatka, in 
lat. 56° N., rye and barley are raised in considerable quantities. In a 
former account I mentioned that the Bay of Awatscha produces only 
two kinds of trees, the Betula incana and Pinus Cembra. The poplar 
(Populus balsamifera) enumerated in Beechey’s ‘ Botany,’ I have never 
seen in a wild state. In the Governor’s garden, near Behring’s monu- 
ment, is an avenue of these trees, from which the specimens transmitted 
by Messrs. Lay and Collie may possibly have been taken. 
The voyage was continued on the 23rd of June, and on the 15th of 
July Chamisso Island, in Kotzebue Sound, was reached, where we had 
the satisfaction of meeting H.M.S. Plover. That vessel had arrived too 
late last season, and being unable to pass through Behring’s Straits, was 
compelled to winter on the Asiatic shore, at a place called Oorel Koi- 
mak. On Chamisso Island everything was in flower, and my excursions, 
consequently, proved productive. For the first time I found Pinguicula 
vulgaris, not previously noticed in this part of the American continent. 
Plants were abundant, but more numerous were the mosquitoes: 
they tormented me so much that the blood was regularly streaming 
from every unprotected part of my body. In the tropies they are 
often troublesome ; but in the worst mangrove-swamps I have never 
experienced anything to equal those of these northern regions. The 
tropical mosquitoes are small, extremely swift, and, though it generally 
proves a vain attempt to kill them, yet they may be driven away. Far 
different are these northern ones, which are much larger, very sluggish 
in their movements, and, after they have once taken up their position, 
are with difficulty frightened. Fifty to a hundred may frequently 
