302 Mr. H. J. Elwes on the 



tliree specimens of Argynnis angarensis, a North and 

 East Siberian species, which is new to the Altai. I de- 

 scended about 2000 feet into the dry rocky gorge of the 

 Tchuiischman, where I found a very much warmer climate 

 than I had experienced for six weeks, and a number of 

 butterflies new to me among them ; the most interesting 

 were Pararge deidamia, and a Theda whicli I supposed 

 to be T. ■?/'. alhum, but which turns out to be the Eastern 

 species T. pninoides. 



This valley is of quite a different character to any I 

 had liitherto seen in the Altai, having steep rocky slopes 

 and precipices on both sides, with waterfalls from the upper 

 slopes, which are wooded with larch. 



On July 29th we followed it down for twenty miles, 

 and found the valley open out again as it approached its 

 junction with the Bashkaus into grassy plains, with rich 

 grass, and in some places a little cultivation of spring 

 rye, the first signs of agriculture I had seen for six weeks. 



After crossing the Bashkaus by a ferry, the horses being 

 swum over this largo and rapid stream, we came to a 

 small settlement where there is a little Russian church ; 

 but we saw no Russians, except one or two travelling 

 traders between Kuch Agatch and Lake Teletskoi, which 

 Ave reached on July 31st. 



The valley of the Bashkaus after its junction with the 

 Tchuiischman is very beautifully wooded, and the her- 

 baceous vegetation became very rich and luxuriant ; but 

 of an East European type, utterly unlike that of the Tchuja 

 Valley, and a number of common European butterflies 

 appealed which I had not seen before. I did not find a 

 single non-European species north of the junction of the 

 Bashkaus, though no doubt the high mountains round 

 Lake Teletskoi, which I had not time to ascend, would 

 produce some of the alpine species of the Altai. 



North of the lake, which took us two days' rowing to 

 traverse, we got into a much more densely wooded country, 

 and twenty miles down the Bija Valley, we came to the 

 first Russian village. The valley opens out a good deal, 

 and in some parts is covered with magnificent forests of 

 pine, the largest I have ever seen in Europe or Asia ; 

 these, however, are being rapidly wasted by fire and axe, the 

 logs being floated down to supply the villages on the Obb, 

 where there is, as far as I saw, no really fine timber. 



The best of the collecting was now over, all the summer 



