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sists of coarse, stony sand which becomes covered by fine 
desert-sand, as proved by numerous small dunes on the lee- 
side of plants and in depressions. The wind bearing the sand 
is burning hot as if from a fire. The temperature of the 
air was 40° C., that of the surface of the sand 53° C. At 
a distance the only plants discernible are large tufts of Ari- 
stida pennata, widely scattered about 2—3 metres apart. 
Coming nearer, the following plants are observed: Astra- 
galus unifoliatus, a shrub less than a metre high with bun- 
ches of crooked branches and small leaves; Reaumuria oxiana 
a shrub up to 1 foot high with small white-spotted leaves 
(salt-glands); the perfectly leafless shrubs of Ephedra alata 
attain the height of 1 foot; Salsola subaphylla as shrubs of 
about the same height looking very dry like sticks, and with 
stiff hard leaves. Arthrophytum subulifolium is a transitional 
form between a shrub and a perennial herb, its short green 
branches with opposite acicular leaves occupy a short green 
stem not 30 centimetres high, so that the plants resemble 
miniature trees, the plant apparently striving to lift its assim- 
ilation-shoots off the ground. The hairy leaf-rosettes of 
Heliotropium sogdianum appear above the sand while its rhi- 
zomes are subterranean. A few dwarfed specimens of the 
perennial Zygophyllum sp. are seen here. Agriophyllum lati- 
folium and minus and Cornulaca Korschinskyi are dry, thorny 
annual Chenopodiaceae already described. Associated with 
these plants is Salsola sclerantha, hairy but thornless. 
In this locality with a stony subsoil, most of the plants 
are dry or thorny, and no pronounced succulents occur. 
Reaumuria oxiana seems to be the one which is most halo- 
phytic in structure. 
12. Sand-desert at Ak-Rabat (right bank of the Amu 
Darya). June 21. 1899. 
Almost level sand with small stones, no sand-drift and 
no salts on the surface. In the lower, more sheltered parts 
Alhagi Camelorum and Lycium ruthenicum occur, while Ari- 
stida comes at higher levels. A low hill is covered with 
Saxaul, mixed with Calligonum sp., Lycium, and Alhagi, very 
similar to the vegetation seen at Chodsha Dawlet, but here 
it is a spontaneous vegetation. A thick-stemmed Saxaul tree 
