NO. 30 SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, I912 Q 
is the frequent occurrence of electrical hail storms. The severity of 
these storms and the display of electricity accompanying them is 
terrific. During the entire trip the party enjoyed only three days 
without rain or snow. The average altitude of camps here was from 
8,500 to 9,000 feet, and above this plane the mountains rise to snow 
and glacier covered peaks of 12,000 feet or more. The country is 
wild, barren, and desolate; and the only inhabitants, the nomadic 
Kirghiz and Kalmuks, are engaged in following their herds of yaks, 
horses, and goats. 
Fic. 10.—Skull of a wild sheep, collected on the Altai expedition by 
Doctor Lyman. Photograph by the National Museum. 
On the return trip, stops were made on the Chutsaya Steppe and in 
the heavily forested Altais between the desert and the great Siberian 
plains. Three different physiographical regions are represented in 
the collections, which include an almost complete series of the mam- 
mals and birds of this little-known part of central Asia. Chief 
among the specimens of great game are four fine rams of Ovis 
ammon, the largest of all wild sheep. There are also specimens of 
two species of ibex and a gazelle. Thirteen forms of mammals col- 
lected are new to science, and some twenty others taken were not 
before represented in the collections of the National Museum. In 
all, about 650 mammals and birds were secured, and will be divided 
between the two institutions concerned. 
