64 PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 
The islands are completely destitute of trees, unless one might be 
tempted. to term so the shrubs of Salix, Sorbus, and Betula, from 6 to § 
feet high, some of which obtain a proportionally great thickness close 
to the ground. Thus, for instance, I have a section of a birch with a 
diameter of 2 inches. . 
The vegetation, especially in the valleys, is very luxuriant, in most 
places of a man’s height or more. This exuberance is especially due to 
the rich soil in connection with the extreme moisture, for the tempera- 
ture during the three months, during which the plants have now been 
erowing, was not high. My observations show a mean of+42°.7 F. for 
June, 48°.2 for July, and 54° for August. The minimum temperatures 
for the same months are 31°.3, 39°.4, and 44°.6, respectively. In higher 
latitudes the length of the day and the intensity of the light produce the 
same effect, but as we live here in latitude 55°, under a sky generally 
overcast, we do not find the same conditions as we should there. 
Of land and fresh-water invertebrates I have collected only some 
specimens of worms, mollusks, and arthropods. The worms are repre- 
sented only by a species of Lumbricus and by two Hirudinee. 
The mollusks are more numerous, including one bivalve and two or 
three pond snails, seven land snails, and one slug. Among the land 
snails there are several extremely small Helices, scarcely larger than a 
pin’s head, some of which I suspect to benew. They are surely not the 
young of the larger kinds, of which I possess young ones also of the 
samesize. As arule,all these animals are of small size, except amedium- 
sized Limneus, and with the same exception they are not very numer- 
ous. 
Of myriapods I have found only a few species, while the spiders have 
yielded a richer harvest. 
As a rule the winged insects seem to be more numerous, with re- 
gard to both individuals and species, which is also the case near Petro- 
paulski. In the first place, the mosquitos make themselves very con- 
spicuous. Although not quite in such large numbers as in Kamtschatka, 
where the furious attacks of their legions sometimes prohibited me from 
securing a bird I had shot, and usually a valuable one, even here on the 
island they seriously interfere with the duties of a collecting naturalist. 
The diurnal lepidoptera seem to be very scarce. I have seen only a 
single one, early in the spring, on the 21st of May; it was a butterfly, much 
like if not identical with Vanessa urtice L., but unfortunately the chase 
was unsuccessful. My lookout for some specis of Argynnis, Erebia or 
Tieris has been completely in vain. The Noctwina are not very numer- 
ous either, while the Geometride and Microlepidoptera are more com- 
mon. 
The beetles are not numerous, including up to date only one or 
two Ourculionide, one or two Elateride, one Silpha, some Staphyli- 
nide, Dytiscide, Gyrinide, Carabicide, and a Cicindela, which I have 
seen at only a single place, although it is a conspicuous species. 
