ae = 
tumn vegetation is similar in the two forms of desert there 
is no reason for distinguishing between ‘“Clay-desert’’ and 
“Loess-steppe”, as has been done by ANToNow. 
In the middle of May the Semi-desert is already be- 
ginning to turn yellow, and many of the spring-plants have 
even dispersed their seeds in April. Towards the end of May 
almost all the plants of non-xerophytic structure have withered 
or are withering rapidly, and the summer-plants make their 
appearance. Our illustration (fig. 4) shows the rolled-up 
withered yellow leaf-rosettes of Ferula Asa foetida, while 
many grey Artemisia bushes are not yet in bloom. The sur- 
face soil in this place was cracked by drying, but at a depth 
of 7 centimetres the loess was still dark with moisture. Thus 
it seems to be the dryness of the air rather than that of the 
soil which kills the spring-vegetation. 
As June advances, any spring-plants left become so dry 
and brittle that they fall to pieces when touched. They soon 
disappear entirely and then the semi-desert becomes a true 
desert similar to the clay-desert proper. The two desert forms 
will therefore in what follows be treated together under the 
latter designation. 
The surface in places is perfectly bare, but as a rule it 
is spotted over by scattered summer-plants. Generally only a 
single species or very few species occur together in each 
locality, different ones in the different places. The number of 
summer-plants is extremely limited, and a review of them 
is soon made. 
Artemisiae often constitute the whole of the summer- 
vegetation; Borszczow records A. fragrans and monogyna, 
but specimens I brought home were identified as A. herba 
alba. In any case the species are closely related to A. mari- 
lima: silver-white, aromatic undershrubs, strongly branched 
at the base. This mode of growth (a “Wermuth-Steppe”) is 
seen in the illustration (fig. 4), and it may be uniform over 
large areas. 
In other places Salsola rigida is the principal species. 
Its growth-form is between a shrub and an undershrub, half 
a metre high, dry and twiggy in appearance, and generally 
with many dead branches; its leaves are rigid and cylindri- 
