are great mountain-sheep too; Ovis poli, whose skulls are 
scattered by the thousand all over Pamir is one of them. 
They are very timid and seek refuge on the highest mount- 
ains. Besides these we saw goats, Capra sibirica, and wolves. 
Many birds are to be seen near the lakes, doves, sea-swallows, 
(Sterna hirudo), black cormorants, reddish-brown ducks, (Ta- 
dorna casarea) while great brown eagles (Haliaetus leucory- 
phus) perch on stones near the shore, darting out into the 
water after fish, with which the lakes abound. Near the 
mouths of rivers are snipe, (Totanus callidris, glareola, glottis) 
and wagtails (Motacilla citreola and flava (?)). 
There were many mouse-holes on the flat plains, (Cri- 
celus arenarius, Arvicola tianschanicus), but the marmot, so 
common on Shatyr Tash, was not to be seen. 
I have chosen the plain near Mardjanaj as a point of 
departure for a description of the vegetation about Jashil 
Kul. Located more exactly this plain lies east of the lower 
branch of the great Mardjanaj. This river and several tiny, 
now dry streams, which lead from the east down to the 
green valley of Mardjanaj, have worn deep into the plain. 
The plain is bounded on the east by high mountains, on 
the south east by a low mountain ridge behind which a 
similar plain stretches. The plain is about 70 mètres above 
the surface of the lake. 
It is horizontal and slightly rolling. As no glacial brooks 
from the mountains flow through it, the vegetation is forced 
to depend on precipitation alone. The soil is reddish gray, 
dry sand, somewhat finer in the hollows, prone to crack on 
the surface, and mixed here and there with salt. At a depth 
of 17—20 cm dampness renders it recognizably darker. 
The vegetation consists of isolated tufts and cushions. 
It may be said in general to belong to a poor type, — ap- 
parently most nearly a semi-desert type of scattered xero- 
phytic, cespitose plants, with an appendix of cushion plants, 
— but it is a richly developed form of this poor type. 
