I02 



at the southwest corner of the lake, and thence to Archan, 105 

 versts west of Kultuk. The journey to Archan was an arduous 

 one, two days in a springless cart with a cushion of hay. The 

 first day we started at 6:20 A.M., and reached our night's lodg- 

 ing at 11:30 P.M. Archan, famous for its mineral springs, is 

 situated at the foot of a splendid range of mountains, strongly 

 suggestive of Switzerland. The altitude is 900 meters above 

 sea level. The flora is on the whole identical with that of the 

 region around Baikal, in spite of the greater altitude. The 

 lake is excessively cold, and this probably has some effect on 

 the surrounding biota. Outstanding features in the Archan 

 flora are a splendid pink Paeonia (in fruit at the time of our visit), 

 a large flowered Hypericum, a handsome Achillea oi the A. 

 ptarmica type, an Ephedra with large bright red berries, Pul- 

 satilla, with yellowish tinted flowers, at least when first opened, 

 two gentians, one of the type of our G. barbellata, but larger, the 

 other a Dasystophana. At Smolenschona and Kychtak, near 

 Irkutsk, we found a beautiful red fruited Crataegus. There is a 

 fine Dianthus very common throughout this region. 



The roses, everywhere abundant, appear to|me to belong to 

 a single species, a form with densely bristly stems and red fruits, 

 which are usually elongated, exactly like those of our R. engel- 

 manni. The fruits vary in shape and are sometimes much 

 shorter and rounder. This plant is evidently Rosa baicalensis 

 Turczaninov, or R. acicularis baicalensis. I was very anxious to 

 get buds for Dr. Hurst of Cambridge, so that he might study 

 the chromosomes, these being quite unknown in Siberian roses. 

 For a long time we could find only plants in fruit but on the 

 high ground east of Kultuk my wife detected a plant in flower, 

 and we got a few buds, which were preserved in Carnoy's fluid. 

 We secured a number of seeds of different plants, including those 

 of an Aquillegia, which was past flowering. This was at Archan. 



Populus tremula is common at Archan, occupying the same 

 position as our P. tremuloides in Colorado. No Quercus has 

 been seen in the whole region. Alnus is common, and Larix is 

 a conspicuous feature of the valleys. A large hemp-like Urtica 

 abounds everywhere along the roadsides. It is appropriately 

 called U. cannabina. 



At Archan we met Demitri Korposoff, an illiterate peasant 

 who seems to be a born naturalist, and knows the life of the 



