392 



NA TURE 



\_August 2 1, \\ 



very hard to approach. They seem to prefer especially 

 the saline districts, and to be able to do long without 

 water. 



The pursuit of this wild horse can only be carried on 

 in winter, because the hunter must live in the waterless 

 districts, and must depend upon a supply of water from 

 melted snow. As may well be believed, such an expe- 

 dition during the severest cold of winter into the most 

 remote part of the desert, must take at least a month. 

 During the whole time of his stay in the Dsungarian 

 Desert, Przevalsky met with only two herds of this wild 

 horse. 



In vain he and his companions fired at these animals. 

 With outstretched head and uplifted tail the stallion dis- 

 appeared like lightning, with the rest of the herd after 

 him. Prezevalsky and his companions could not keep 

 near them, and soon lost their tracks. On the second 

 occasion they came upon them from one side, yet one of 

 the herd discovered their presence, and they were all gone 

 in an instant. 



The single specimen of Przevalsky's horse subsequently 

 procured is now in the Museum of the Academy of 

 Sciences of St. Petersburg, and is the only example of 

 this species in Europe. 



THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE SEA AND 

 .■_ CONTINENTAL CLIMATE WITH REGARD 

 TO VEGETATION 



"THE difference in vegetation between the sea and 

 -^ continental climate is no doubt best observed in 

 the growth of plants generally cultivated in the temperate 

 zone for different purposes, as every climate has its own 

 region or flora. Whether the climate of a country is 

 favourable to those plants or not is shown, in the first 

 place, by their extension to the north ; therefore we shall 

 first endeavour to trace the northern limits of the most 

 important plants, either cultivated in one country and 

 growing wild in another, or cultivated everywhere. 



To the first class trees mostly belong ; to the second, 

 annual or perennial plants. We begin with trees : — 

 \<'Pinus sylvestris, L. (Scotch pine). Scotland, 59°; 

 Norway, 70° 20'; Kola, 69 ; Petchora region, 67° 15'; 

 Ob River, 66° ; Turukansk, 65 . The Verkhoyansk 

 Mountains, east of the Lena River (64°), are the eastern 

 limits of this tree. 1 



\Betula odorata, Bechst. {alba, L., van) (birch). Green- 

 land, 6l° (shrub) ; Iceland, 65 (shrub to ten feet high) ; 

 Britain, 59' ; Norway, 70 50' ; Kola Peninsula, 69° 30' ; 

 Kanin Peninsula, 67 ; to the Ob River (66 : ), and from 

 the River Kolyma (6S°) to the Penshina Gulf (63 ) and 

 Kamchatka ; on this peninsula it is a large tree. 



Quercus pedunculata, Ehrh. (Q. robur, L., var.) (com- 

 mon oak). England, 58 ; Norway (wild), to 62° 55', and 

 cultivated to 6, J 54'; Finland (coast), 61° 30' (Bjorne- 

 borg) ; St. Petersburg, Yaroslav, Perm, 58 .'- 



Larix europaa, Dec. (including L. sibirien. Ledeb., and 

 L. dahurica, Turcz) (common larch). Norway {europaa, 

 Dec), 66 : 5', [dahurica, Turcz), 59° 55', both cultivated ; 

 Onega River, White Sea, south-western shore of Onega 

 Lake, Mesen (Kanin Peninsula), 67 ; Petchora River, 

 67 30'; Ural Mountains, 67" 15'; Kara River, 6S° 

 (northern limit in Europe) ; Yenisei River, 70° ; Boga- 

 nida River, 71° 15'; Chatanga River, 72° 30' (most 

 northern limit of trees on the globe) ; Anabar, 71° ; 

 Olenek and Lena, 72"; Yana, 71°; Indigirka, 70° 45'; 

 Kolyma, 69° ; Anadyr, 65° ; between Okotsk and Gishiga, 

 6i° ; Sakalin Peninsula, 49 : to Jeddo and the island of 

 Kunaschir, 43° 45'. On the shores of Kamchatka the 

 larch is nowhere to be found ; in the valleys of this 

 peninsula, however, protected from sea winds, it is a very 

 large tree. 3 



' MiddendorlT, " Sibiris. he Rei^e." Bd. iv. Th. 1, p. 556. 



'' it. p 567-: eu ' ii>- p- 536. 



Pyrus Mains, L. (apple-tree). Shetland Isles (culti- 

 vated) ; Britain, 57 ; Norway, cultivated, 65 28', wild- 

 63 40' ; Gulf of Bothnia, 6f 45' (cultivated) ; Finland; 

 63 (cultivated), 6o° (wild) ; northern shore of Onega Lake 

 (wild); Narva, 59" 30' (wild) ; Tver, 56° 45' (wild) ; Nijni 

 Novgorod, 56 (wild) ; Kasan, 56° (wild) ; south-west of 

 Orenburg, 50° ; Kopal, Asia, 45°. 



Fagus sylvatica, L. (common beech). Britain, 58° ; 

 Norway, 59% cultivated, 67' 56' ; Sweden, 57 ; Konigsberg, 

 Poland, South- West Russia, Crimea, Caucasus, Persia. 



Castanea vesca, Grtn. (chestnut). South Britain, Ger- 

 many (to the island of Riigen), Austria, Caucasus. 



Populus alba, L. (abele tree). Britain (wild and culti- 

 vated), 56 ; Norway (cultivated), 67° 56' ; Germany (wild 

 and cultivated), Austria, Russia : Volhynia, Kieff, Char- 

 koff, Tambov, Kasan, Ufa, Altai Mountains. 



Populus tremula, L. (aspen). Britain, 59 ; Norway, 

 70° 37' ; Russia : Kola Peninsula, 69 30' ; eastern shores 

 of the White Sea, 66° ; Yenisei, 66° ; Kolyma River, 

 67 30' ; ' Amur River. 



Alnus incana, W. (hoary-leaved elder). Canada, Nor- 

 way, 70° 30' ; Kola, 69 30' ; Yenisei, 67 ; Amur region, 

 Petropaulovsk on Kamchatka. 



Ulmus campestris, L. (common elm-tree). Britain, 57^ ; 

 Norway (cultivated), 63 26' ; Russia : Ilnien Lake, south 

 of Moscow, Riazan, south of Kazan and Ufa to the Ural 

 Mountains. 



Tilia europaa, L. (including parvifolla, grandifolia, and 

 intermedia) (lime-tree). Britain, 57' {parvifolia) ; Norway 

 (wild), 62°9', (cultivated) 67° 56' ; St. Petersburg, Kargopol, 

 Ust Sussolsk, about 62° ; Solikamsk, Ural Mountains, 

 about 58° 50' ; Verkhoturgi. 



/ 'iti's vinifera, L. (common grape). Bretagne, 47 30' ; 

 Liege, 50 45' ; Thuringia to Silesia, 51 55' ; South 

 Galicia, South Russia, between about 4S5 3 and 49 ; Astra- 

 kan, Bokhara in Turkestan, 40° (here the vine is cultivated 

 in the open fields '-) ; Khiva, 42° ; China, 40 ; California. 

 This plant cannot stand the extreme continental climate 

 on account of the frost in winter, but wants a very warm 

 or a very long summer (as in California), therefore it 

 cannot be cultivated generally in Britain. California is 

 warmer in summer than some latitudes in Europe. 



Triticum vulgare, Vill., var. cestivum (summer wheat). 

 Britain ; Norway, in the fields, 64 40', in gardens, 69° 28' ; 

 Finland, 65 ; 3 Dwina River, 63 ; Yakutsk, western 

 shores of North America, 55° ; Fort Liard, 60" 5' (North- 

 west Territory of Canada) ; 4 Peace River, 56 6' ; On- 

 tario, East Canada. 



Hordeum vulgare, L. (including hexastichum) (barley). 

 Faroe Isles, 62° 15' (grain seldom ripens) ; Norway, 70° ; 

 western shores of the White Sea, 67 ; Ob River, 6i° ; 

 Yakutsk, 62 ; Udskoi Ostrog, near the Okotsk Sea, 

 54' 30' ; Kamchatka (inland), 53° to 54 ; North-West 

 American shore, south of Sitka, 57° ; Fort Norman, 

 Mackenzie River, 65° ; 5 east of Winnipeg, 50°; St. 

 Lawrence Bay, 50'. 



Avena sativa, L. (oat). Scotland; Norway, 69 28' ; 

 Finland, 69° ; Asia, the same latitude as Hordeum vul- 

 gare ; Yenisei, 61° ; Yakutsk, Kamchatka (inland) ; 

 North America, the same latitude as Hordeum vulgare. 



Seeale eereale, L. (common rye). Britain ; Norway, 

 69° 30' ; Finland, 67 ; Mesen River, 65" 45' ; Petchora 

 region, 65'' 45' ; Ural Mountains, 57° ; Ob River, 60° ; 

 Yenisei, 59° 30' ; Yakutsk, Kamchatka (inland) ; North 

 America, a little south of the latitude of the barley, eastern 

 shores, 50 . 



Solatium tuberosum, L. (potato). Britain ; Norway, 7 1° 7'; 

 Russia, Pinega River, 65° ; Turukansk, 65° ; Yakutsk, 

 shores of the Okotsk Sea, Kamchatka, Kadjah Island, 



1 MiddendortT, p. 573. 



1 1 rrisebach, " 1 >ie Vegetation der Erde," vol. i. p. 407. 



3 MiddendortT, p. 709. 



4 Richard-on, "Searching Expedition through Rupert's Land," vol. ii. 

 p. 267. Fort Liard lias an altitude between 400 and 500 feet above sea- 

 level. 5 Richardson, p. 269. 



