Here and there the marshes were quite dried up, and Ihe grey, loamy, fissured 

 ground covered with white salt-crystals. Here was an almost complete absence of vege- 

 tation, or only a poor flora consisting of some few scattered specimens of Saussuiea 

 crassifolia, Lepidiiim crassi folium, Ranunculus plantaginifolius, and inore rarely, Planlago 



^:^^$^^:^^^f^^^^^ 





Fi« 15. The Abakan Steppe. Lookout on tlie salt swamps at Ust Kamuishto. In the foreground 



an Abakan Tatarian burial ground. 



maritima subspec. cilutta nov. subspec, constituting the only vegetation. 



In that territory of the Abakan Steppe, saliferous soil is very frequent, but the 

 usual halophilous flora here did not seem to be very rich as regards the number of spe- 

 cies. In the main, the same flora as mentioned above is met with in nearly all similar 

 habitats, here and there, however, together wilh some others, as Alriplex palulum. 

 Koclnu piostnita vai . viiescens, Alriplex sibiricum, Salsola collina, Artemisia Sieversiana, 

 and Artemisia maritima. 



On the borders of Tagarski osero, a rather large salt lake to the south of 

 Minusinsk, I have, in addition, collected As/er Tripolium, Suacda corniculala, and Planlago 

 Cornuti. 



Due to the dryness of the climate, the Abakan Steppe is at present almost entirely 

 uninhabited. Thus, drinking-water is to be found only in the rivers and the nearest 

 surroundings, while the water not unfrequently to be met with in cavities on the steppe, 

 is always more or less saliferous, and, accordingly, unsuitable for drinking. In many 



