— 270 — 
above, we have that the “northerly” plants include only 9 
p. cent. which are exclusively northern, the “easterly” ones 
22 p. cent. exclusively eastern, while the ‘“southerly” plants 
include 33 p. cent. exclusively distributed towards the South. 
These figures as in the case of the percentage for the 
total distribution, show that the Transcaspian lowlands are 
most closely related to the countries lying towards the South 
and South-West, and most distantly related to the countries 
lying towards the North. This is the case though the Trans- 
caspian lowlands towards the North are open and without 
any natural boundary, while in every direction towards the 
South they are hemmed in by mountains. 
This result is further confirmed if we take into con- 
sideration the species which the Transcaspian lowlands have 
in common with Syria and Palestine (166 species, Post, 
indicated in the list by V*) or with Egypt (91 species, 
ASCHERSON & SCHWEINFURTH); that is respectively 22 and 12 
p. cent. of the total number of species. About one-third of 
these (Syria 30, Egypt 29 p. cent.) do not occur either east 
or north of Transcaspia, and less than half of them (Syria 
39, Egypt 41 p. cent.) are widely distributed species which 
are also found north and east of Transcaspia. 
Compare with this what has been stated about species 
common to Yekaterinoslaw and to Pamir. Here almost all 
the species in common have a wide distribution; this com- 
munity therefore indicates a more distant relationship than 
that between areas with species in common which show a 
more limited distribution. 
Though derived from imperfect and somewhat scanty 
materials, our figures point in the right direction, as they 
have shewn us that the Transcaspian lowlands in their flor- 
istic as well as their biological aspects (comp. above p. 160) 
are more closely related to the countries towards the South. 
This result will probably be further confirmed by future 
systematic investigations within the individual genera or 
families. Such investigations are already being carried on, 
and we may illustrate them by a short summary of Professor 
KUSNEZOW’s interesting investigations on Rindera Pall., a genus 
of Borraginaceae. 
