100 WESTERN POND TURTLE. 
Dr. Lyall says,* in reference to this plain: ‘A 
good many plants found in this region are 
strictly local in their distribution. Excepting 
by the banks of lakes or streams, there are no 
trees; and some of the orders, such as Ranun- 
culacew, Caryophyllacee, Portulacacee, Rosacea, 
Crassulacee, Saxifragacee, Vacciniaceew, Orchi- 
dacee, Liliacee, &c., which species are so 
plentiful in the first region, have comparatively 
few representatives; whilst others, such as Legu- 
minose, Onagracee, Polemoniacee, &c., are more 
common in this district, and give a character to 
the vegetation.’ 
Difference of elevation in the plain regions 
have each their peculiarities. The spurs of the 
Cascadesare usually too dry foreven good grazing- 
ground—their summits rocky, barren, and sparsely 
timbered. A strip of land immediately adjoining 
the Columbia, where it receives the waters of the 
Spokan, offers, however, good grazing-grounds 
for the Indian horses. 
In the grass surrounding our camp are quan- 
tities of the Western Pond Turtle (Actinemys 
marmorata), large and small—tiny little fel- 
lows not bigger than a horse-bean, and stout 
*~ Journal Linnean Society,’ 1863, ‘ Botany of North- 
west America.’ 
