cxlvi 



well-known peculiarities of this grass, and stated that it ceases to grow 

 within So or 90 miles of the mountains, where the soil is more arenaceous. 



In describing the flora of the mountains and the replacement of decidu- 

 ous trees by conifers, he mentioned the discovery of a balsam fir {Abies 

 concolor) which had not been reported from that region before, but which 

 he had described, a number of years ago, from Santa Fe. He found ten 

 species of Firs, Spruces, and Pine, and three species of Junipers; none of 

 them occurring in the east except Juniperus communis. J-. occidentalis 

 had its N.E. limit in Southern Colorado. The only Oak (Q. undulata} 

 is a small shrub with acorns which taste like chestnuts, and so variable in 

 its leaf that it had formed the basis of several fictitious species. 



In ascending the mountains the growth does not cease gradually, but 

 with comparative suddenness. Good healthy trees, 50 feet high, will be 

 succeeded by a stretch of a quarter of a mile of stunted ones, always bent 

 eastward by wind and snow, with the bark stripped on the west side. 



He referred to the number of fir-cones found severed from the trees 

 while green, and supposed that the severing was done by squirrels to pre- 

 vent the breaking up of the cones and scattering of the seeds, which takes 

 place in the firs when the cones are ripe— the object being to save laborand 

 to secure their winter food without too much trouble.— Also, that it was a 

 mistake to suppose that there was anything, in the nature of a desert 

 between here and the mountains. The land was everywhere rich and cov- 

 ered with Buffalo-grass. 



Mr. Riley remarked that while such a statement as this last 

 would hold true of the country along the Kansas Pacific, there 

 were vast tracts of land, farther north, with no other vegetation 

 than a few cacti, which might not inaptly be called desert land. 



Mr. Todd referred to the contradictory reports made by corre- 

 spondents and officers of the Custar expedition to the Black Hills, 

 and how the glowing accounts of the profusion of flowers and the 

 perpetual spring and summer of that country were apt to mislead, 

 as it is one of the characteristics of the far west that the flowers 

 are abundant and beautiful in summer even where the weather 

 is so severe as to preclude human habitation during a great part 

 of the year. 



After a few further remarks by Dr. Geo. Engelmann on the 

 importance of regularity in meteorological observations, the meet- 

 ing adjourned. 



