508 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol.45. 



mammals, including about 350 specimens, lias been turned over to 

 the National Museum for determination. An account of the birds, 

 with descriptions of three new forms, has been published by Mr. 

 Outram Bangs.^ The collections have now been divided between 

 the two institutions. 



ITINERARY. 



Having been joined by Kain in London the latter part of May, 1912, 

 we proceeded to St. Petersburg, completed the arrangements for 

 permits with the Russian officials, engaged the services of an inter- 

 preter, and departed over the Siberian Railway, June 8, for the East- 

 On the morning of June 12 we left the train at Novonikolsevsk, on 

 the Obi River, and before evening were embarked on a steamer for 

 the upper river. Biisk, the head of navigation for steamers, was 

 reached on the night of June 15. Arrangements for horses and 

 tarantasses were made for the first stage of the trip over the post 

 road to the southward and on the morning of June 18 we began the 

 long trip by team to the last Russian outpost, Kosh-Agatch. At 

 Ust-Inya, somethmg over half the distance, we negotiated with 

 Kalmuks for horses for our pack trip beyond Kosh-Agatch, and these 

 reached Kosh-Agatch with us June 28. A delay of two days at 

 Ust-Inya gave me the opportunity for setting a few traps, and the 

 first mammals were collected there. 



Kosh-Agatch, on the Chuisaya (or Tchouia) Steppe, is the end of 

 the road, and from here on to the Mongolian border the trip was by 

 pack and saddle horses. Our party now consisted of Doctor Lyman, 

 Kain, and myself, and the Russian interpreter and four native Tartars 

 and Kalmuks, with 15 horses. Two days' journey across the desert 

 steppe and up the valley of the headwaters of the Chuya (or Tchouia) 

 River brought us to the "last timber," a few larch trees {Larix 

 sihirica) near Tschornia Creek, a branch of the Chuya near the Mon- 

 golian border, m Tchegan-Burgazi Pass. Here a suitable camp was 

 pitched and I settled down, July 1, with Kain and one Tartar camp 

 man, to make a collection of the mammals and birds of the Little 

 Altai. Doctor Lyman, with the rest of the outfit, pushed on through 

 the pass for a circle of the range in Mongolia after big game, particu- 

 larly sheep and ibex. 



Except for a few larches in some of the valleys on the Siberian side 

 the region is without timber, though there is evidence that other 

 sheltered slopes have been deforested within comparatively recent 

 times. Trees were, however, never plenty, and the constant drain 

 on the limited growth by Elirghiz, Kalmuk, and Tartar has almost 

 cleaned up the remnant. The Mongolian side is absolutely without 

 bush or tree, and as on the Chuisaya Steppe, "tezelc," or dry horse- 



» BuU. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 54, No. 16, pp. 463-474, January, 1913. 



