becomes richer. Near Sary Mullah lies a stony gravel plain, 
surrounded by steep slate mountains. Here plants are grow- 
ing, separately it is true, so that the ground is visible be- 
tween, yet abundantly enough that the plain seen from above 
looks green with only here and there a bare brown spot of 
hard cracked clay surrounded by white saline crystals. On 
this plain I found Artemisia sp., Stipa orientalis var, tricho- 
glossa, forming tiny fairy circles, Carex stenophylla, Hordeum 
secalinum var. brevisubulatum, Macrotomia euchromon, Sole- 
nanthus stylosus, Oxytropis tibetica, Astragalus Muschketowit, 
Eurotia ceratoides, Sisymbrium Korolkowü, Christolea crassi- 
folia, Arnebia guttala, Psychrogelon turcestanicum. In a single 
locality there was a great mass of Chenopodium vulvaria, 
presumably brought thither by a caravan. Lappula Myosotis 
and Acantholimon diapensioides were growing in a dried-up 
stream. 
The vegetation of the plain extends up the lower part 
of the base of the mountains, (eastern exposure), without 
great change. Eurotia ceratoides becomes common here, and 
we find Oxytropis humifusa, Hedysarum cephalotes, Poa atte- 
nuata, and Veronica biloba. 
Many of the species have gaily coloured blossoms. This 
quite rich and varied vegetation is made up of cespitose 
hemicryptophytes and suffrutices, and belongs to the Tri- 
gonella-formation which will be discussed further later on. 
The Russian fortress, Pamirski Post, lies at the upper 
course of the Murghab River. This river flows through a 
valley far broader than itself and composed for the most 
part of swamp-meadows. North of the river valley is a 
rather broad rolling plain, its soil of stony clay or sand 
stained here and there by patches of white salt. Looking at the 
cliff down to the river with its 4—6 mètres perpendi- 
cular drop, we see that the foundation of the plain is 
a conglomerate. The binding substance is sand or clay 
and most of the stones are about the size of hens’ eggs with 
occasional great boulders several mètres in diameter. Flat 
