February 15, 1915 139 
plishing reproduction in the cool months of winter and early 
spring, continue to function, to a limited extent, throughout the 
entire year. The remaining perennial, Astragalus Coulteri, a 
handsome endemic species, and the only one having an indu- 
mental protection, remains dormant during the summer. 
The annual plants are the same in number as the peren- 
nials. They are: Oenothera trichocalyx, a rosette plant having 
a long and fleshy taproot and large and fragrant white flowers; 
Abronia villosa aurtta, a prostrate vine, bearing fragrant flow- 
ers, and Excelza ertocephala, a composite with rough foliage and 
bright yellow radiate heads. The flowers of all the annuals, and 
of the Astragalus, are showy, and suggest insect fertilization, 
while their delicate texture seems ill adapted to the hard condi- 
tions under which they grow. 
Further out on the Sands the shrnbs become erect, and they 
are less distantly separated; about them are heaped low mounds 
af sand, all evidences of the diminished force of the wind. Paro- 
sela disappears, and stunted forms of Atriplex canescens appeat 
and at length become dominant, and scattered through some 
dwarfed /socoma veneta acradenza, the two most widely spread 
shrubs of the Salton basin. The only herb which remains is an 
occasional specimen of Zvcela ertocephala. 
At length, as the borders of the ancient Lake Cahuilla are 
approached, a belt of dunes is entered, each formed by sand 
heaped upon a buried mesquite tree. On their summits a dense 
growth of little leafy twigs appears and crowns them with verd- 
ure. 
San Bernardino, California. 
