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species of the ephemerals, but my opinion is that the number 
of individuals of most of the ephemeral species is much 
larger than that of the summer-annuals. This question ought 
to be more closely investigated. 
Even though the adaptations of the summer-annual 
plants must be regarded as favourable, otherwise the plants 
would not be able to exist, they seem to be much less 
favourable than the adaptations of the ephemerals or those 
of the perennials. The latter remain alive year after year, 
capable of storing nutriment and of developing a strong 
root-system, while as regards propagation by seeds they have 
the same chance as the annual plants. 
The annualness of the annual summer-plants inherent 
in their nature thus seems to be an unfavourable point in 
their adaptation to the conditions of the Transcaspian desert. 
That so few species of them occur there is perhaps a result 
of this. 
Next to the Therophytes the Hemicryptophytes are 
the most abundant type in the Transcaspian desert. Their 
percentage (27) ranges between the figures from the North- 
African and North-American desert (19, 20, 18) and Samos 
(32) as shown in Table 3. They are far less numerous here 
than in the South-Russian steppe (Yekaterinoslaw) and Pamir. 
Most of them flower early, about the month of May. 
After calculation, I find that only about 10 per ct. of the 
Hemicryptophytes flower after July 1, so that about 90 per 
ct. are early flowering. These figures are only approximate, 
as details on the flowering season of many species are 
lacking. 
Actual numbers have less interest here than in the case 
of annual plants, because the latter usually die after they 
have produced flower and fruit, whereas perennial plants in 
many cases continue to be vegetative after that time. Statis- 
tics of the flowering season therefore give no information 
about the vegetative period of perennials. 
Most Hemicryptophytes flower early and have completed 
flowering before the end of June. As previously stated (p. 59) 
many of them wither when the seeds are ripe. This is 
probably the case with the majority, some of them have 
