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diminish on the mountains of other countries, so they here 

 disappear almost entirely. In a country where the vegetation 

 is often, during the flowering season, covered with snow, the 

 annual plants cannot be expected to survive long, as their 

 seeds are seldom perfected ; while the perennial plants suffer 

 less, their roots being unhurt, and capable of throwing up 

 fresh shoots. 



There still belongs another peculiarity to the Altaic Flora, 

 which is, that in many of the families that are numerous 

 here as to species, the genera are very few ; whilst all the 

 others seem to be replaced by an individual, or a couple of 

 genera; thus it is among the Personates, where the genus Pedi- 

 cularis composes almost l-3d; and among the Asperifolice, 

 where Myosotis and Echinospermum number more than one- 

 half. In the Cynarocephalce, too, upwards of half the species 

 belong to Saussurea and Serratula; among the Eupatorinece, the 

 Artemisia are 2-3ds; and in the Mutacece, 3-4ths are claimed 

 by the genus Zygophyllum. But the EeguminoscB present the 

 most striking instance of this, for 3-4ths of the species in this 

 very numerous family consist of the genera Astragalus, 

 Oxytropis and Phaca ; whilst the many genera which are 

 found in other places, contributing numerous individuals to 

 swell that tribe, are in Altai almost wholly wanting: for 

 example, there are but two species of Medicago, and five 

 of Trifolium. We collected twenty-three Ferns, according 

 to the Linnaean system ; of which l-3d belong to Equisetum. 

 From the abundance of other plants, we found it impossible 

 to devote so much attention to the Cryptogamice as would 

 have enabled us to institute a comparison between those of 

 the Altai and of Germany; but we ascertained that, with 

 regard to these plants, the difference is not material. 



VOL. II. 



