silvatica, Polygala comosum forma, Stellaria Bungeana var. latifolia, Stellaria graminea, 

 Cerastium arvense, and Fragaria viridis. 



Near Askys, along the western bank of the river, there extends a dry steppe, up to 

 several wersts broad, within which ridges rise to an altitude of from 100 to 150 m. The 

 soil of the steppe itself seemed to consist here mostly of sand, here and there in 

 admixture with black earth, which is too dry, however, for successful agriculture. 

 Nearer the hills, the ground becomes gradually more stony, passing by degrees into the 

 dry sandstone cliffs themselves, making the sides of the hills. From the summits of 

 these hills may be surveyed westwards an enormous, rugged rock-steppe, of a dry and 

 brown, almost desert-like, appearance, consisting of reddish-brown hills of Devonian 



Fig. 14. View over the Abakan Steppe westwards. Rock-steppe, consisting of Devonian sandstone, 

 almost desert-like. One the ridge in the foreground may be observed three lonely larches. 



sandstone, with dried up river-beds. The soil is accordingly very poor, the rocky 

 ground is either quite bare or only covered by a thin layer of earth, and with an 

 extremely sparing and monotonous flora, which, however. I had no opportunitv of 

 examining more closely. To the east, the Abakan Steppe itself may be viewed, exten- 

 ding as far as the eye reaches, level and smooth, of a uniform, brownish-grey colour, the 

 river-bed being marked out as a green stripe on this monotonous plain. The steppe is 

 here a typical grass-steppe. To illustrate the composition of the vegetation here, I 

 give the following list of plants found by me: 



Koeleria gracilis, Festuca ovina var. sulcata, Festiica rubra, Festuca rubra var. 

 arenaria, Tiiticum caninum var. geniculaium, Agropyrum pseudo-Ag ropy rum, Phleum 

 Boehmeri subspec. decurtatum nov. subspec, Avena Schelliana, Avena pratensis, Stipa 



24 



