2 2 Contributions to Westej-n Botany. [zoe 



Gulf of California. In Sonora I found only Oaierodrilus so^iorce. 

 In Central America the species were equally confined. In the 

 vicinity of the City of Guatemala I found four distinct species of 

 Ocnerodrilus, each one of which was confined either to a certain 

 garden or to a certain creek or pond, while in parts of the 

 country other species were found equally restricted. The Knchy- 

 traeides are almost equally circumscribed geographically. A 

 species of Pachydrilus could only be found in a single little 

 creek (Rush Creek, Fresno County) in the Sierra Nevada, and I 

 searched for it in vain elsewhere, though small creeks abound 

 there everywhere not one mile apart. Another gigantic 

 Enchytrseus, several inches long, was confined to a single little 

 meadow on the south fork of King's River. Only one or two of 

 the California limicolids have a wider distribution, and they are 

 species of Limnodrilus, which genus shows a greater adaptability 

 to different localities than any other. With such restricted 

 geographical distribution it is to be expected that many interesting 

 and aberrant oligochseta may yet be found in almost every 

 isolated water course or pond, especially in countries where, 

 through the division of seasons into dry and rainy, the water 

 courses and ponds are comparatively scarce and disconnected. 



CONTRIBUTIONS TO WESTERN BOTANY. No. 4. 



BY MARCUS E. JONKS. 



Astragalus candidissinms (Benth.) Wat. Probably from a 

 woody root if not shrubby, rather tall, a foot or two high at least; 

 stems flexuous; peduncles one and one-half times longer than 

 the leaf, rather stout; stipules minute. Mr. Brandegee's speci- 

 mens from Magdalena Island have about eight pairs of leaflets, 

 obovate-cuneate, rounded or emarginateat apex, scarcely petiolu- 

 late, appressed silvery silky, five lines or less long; whole leaf 

 three inches long; petiole an inch or less long; flowers, in dense 

 spikes which are two inches long, five lines long, almost sessile, 

 minute bract twice as long as pedicel; calyx black-hairy, two 

 lines long, cleft deeper on the upper side, teeth short, triangular, 

 one-half the length of the campanulate tube; pods sessile,. 



