312 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XX. No. 513 



No. 5, shows that, during the jear of 1891, 677 new species and 133 

 new varieties of flowering and fern-like plants were described. 

 Perhaps one-third of these are simply old forms re-arranged, but 

 these figures indicate that more than five hundred new forms 

 among the higher plants, with no mention of the vast number of 

 lower forms, have been discovered in this one year. Among the 

 areas within the boundaries of the United States unexplored by 

 the naturalist, may be mentioned north-western Montana, north- 

 ern and central Idaho. These regions have been at various times 

 penetrated by Hudson Bay trappers, missionaries, hunters, gold 

 and silver prospectors, but our knowledge of the topography is 

 comparatively meagre, and the best government maps are not 

 even approximately correct, especially in central Idaho, with 

 which this article is particularly concerned. In general, how- 

 ever, the following description obtains. (See map.) The broader 

 southern portion consists in great part of the arid " sage " plains 

 of the Snake River Basin. The surface is chiefly basaltic lava 

 overlying porphyritic trachyte. This entire region is character- 



ized by excessive changes of temperature. The central portion 

 is a huge mountain mass upreared in places to a height of 13,000 

 feet, reaching far above timber-line and bearing extensive banks 

 of perpetual snow.' 



The jagged slopes are covered with forests of cone- bearing trees, 

 with dense thickets of underbrush on the lower slopes. The 

 principal formations are lava, granite, and forms of limestone 

 and quartz. 



The most prominent of the numerous short i-anges comprised in 

 this group are the Salmon River, Lost River, Clearwater, Saw- 

 tooth, Pahsimeroi, Craig, and Seven Devils Mountains. Extend- 

 ing northward along the eastern border and joining this central 

 mass directly are the Bitter Root ranges passing northward into 

 the Coeur d'Alene Mountains, leaving to the westward the semi- 

 circular basin drained by the Clearwater and Palouse Rivers and 

 by the tributaries of Lake Coeur d'Alene. 



North of the 48th parallel, Clark's Pork of the Columbia River 

 cuts its way through the ranges and expands into Lake Pend 

 d'Oreille, a cliff-encircled sheet of water, forty-five miles long and 



1 Dr. C. n. Merrlam, " North American Fauna," No. 5. 



ten miles wide, with a depth of 1,800 to 8,500 feet. Northward, 

 between the forks of the Columbia River, are the snow-capped 

 mountains surrounding the elevated Lake Kaniksu. 



For the season of 1892, Dr. Geo. L. Vasey, chief botanist of the 

 Department of Agriculture, planned a survey of the basaltic 

 basins of the Clearwater and Palouse Rivers, the country around 

 the lakes Coeur d'Alene and Pend d'Oreille and the adjoining 

 mountain ranges to the eastward, and, acting under the direction 

 of Dr. Vasey, in accordance with this plan, a party of botanists 

 composed of J. H. Sandberg, A. A. Heller, and D. T. MacDougal, 

 with J. G. Brunswick in charge of camp, outfitted at Lewiston at 

 the head of navigation of the Snake River, and went into camp 

 on the north bank of the Koos-Kooskia or Clearwater River, 

 April 23. 



The camp equipment consisted of four native horses ("cay uses"), 

 a mountain-wagon, harness, riding and pack saddles, a wedge 

 tent for storage and sleeping-room, and a large wall tent for the 

 routine work. To this may be added the usual number of woolen 

 and rubber blankets, tarpaulins, cooking apparatus, medicine 

 chest, fire-arms, etc. For the preparation of dried plants, 6,000 

 driers, 11 J by Hi inches, and several times as many sheets of 

 fine Manilla paper of the same size, were furnished; in addition, 

 several packages of envelopes, for ihe reception of seeds and 

 small plants; portfolios, tin boxes for collecting specimens, a 

 varied assortment of picks and large knives for uprooting plants 

 from soil and rocks; note-books for the accumulation of data 

 concerning the habits and distribution of plants, and movements 

 of the expedition, and an aneroid of doubtful accuracy and limited 

 usefulness. The general plan of work was to pitch the main 

 camp in a favorable location, generally near a stream or lake, 

 where good forage, fuel, and water might easily be obtained. From 

 this place as a centre, the immediate neighborhood within a 

 radius of three or four miles would be worked over; this area 

 would then be extended four to eight miles farther by the use of 

 saddle animals, the collector returning to camp each day. Still 

 more extended excursions, so far as 40 miles in some cases, were 

 made by boats and pack-horses carrying the smallest necessary 

 camp outfit and a minimum of apparatus. 



All flowering plants collected for preservation were placed in the 

 drying sheets on the same day on which collected, if possible, and a 

 daily change of driers made until safely dried. These prepared 

 specimens were then shipped to Washington whenever transporta- 

 tion was available. 



After the region accessible to the camp had been thoroughly 

 worked, the expedition would then move its entire equipment fif- 

 teen to fifty miles and pursue the same method. In this manner 

 the route was carried from the first camp on the Clearwater River 

 to the southern edge of its basin in the Craig Mountains about 

 May 30, camp being made at Lake Waha. Up to this time the 

 weather had been extremely unfavorable to field work and 

 preparation of specimens, the journal showing that during the 

 first tvpenty-five days rain and snowstorms had been encountered 

 on twenty-three of them, it being, however, practically the end 

 of the rainy season. At Lake Waha (elevation 3,300) the nights 

 were extremely cool, and on the slopes a few hundred feet above 

 it were huge snow-banks, in many cases a dozen feet thick. 

 From Waha the expedition retraced its steps to the Clearwater 

 camp, then up the Clearwater and its northern tributary. Pot- 

 latch Creek, making two camps on this stream and its branches. 

 From here the route was through well-settled districts northward 

 to the south-western part of Lake Coeur d'Alene, which was 

 reached July 3, camps having been made near Moscow, Viola, 

 and on Pine Creek. The expedition was joined at Moscow by 

 Mr. G. B. Alton, who participated for three weeks in the excur- 

 sions made to the lower ranges on the east and isolated buttes in 

 the basin. From the camp at Farmington Landing numerous 

 bays and tributaries were explored by boat, and, by aid of one of 

 the small steamers plying here, an excursion was made up the 

 Coeur d'Alene River, and half the party ascended the St. Joseph 

 River to near the head of navigation, forming a temporary camp 

 near the base of Wessner's Peak at the ranch of Mr. C. P. Reid. 

 An ascent of the mountain was accomplished July 6. Ice was 

 found on lake near the summit, while snow-fields were numerous 



