from the Urjankai country. Owing to the extraordinary state of affairs in the 

 autumn of 1914, we were unable to bring our collections home, but had to leave 

 them in various places in Siberia. Most of these articles have arrived afterwards via 

 the Arctic Ocean, across the mouth of the Yenisei, in ships belonging to the Norwegian- 

 Siberian Trading Company, but some are still missing. All inquiries have, of course, 

 under the present circumstances, been quite in vain, and not knowing what has become 

 of the collections, I have thought it right not to put off any longer the publication of 

 this paper. 



As to previous investigations of the vegetation of these regions, I refer to the 

 complete list of literature inserted at the end of this paper, also comprising all works on 

 the adjacent regions and the whole Yenisei valley, right up to the Arctic Sea. A survey of 

 the literature only concerning the territory traversed would not be very extensive, these 

 regions being some of the least known of central Asia. The region about Minusinsk 

 is the one best known, and has especially been explored by Martjanow. The Urjankai 

 country, on the other hand, has remained, to the very last, a real terra incognita, 

 not only in point of botany, but also in every other respect. The meagre botanical infor- 

 mation of this country is to be found in works by Krylow (1903), Schischkin (1909), 

 as well as by Price and Simpson (1913). 



All that is put down in the following pages, I have collected and observed myself 

 on my journey in 1914, and all of the photographs and other illustrations are likewise 

 original. I have, in the following, annexed a series of photographs, as these are rather 

 instructive, and likely to convey a good idea of the general character of the country. 



Nearly all the determinations have been undertaken by myself, partly here at 

 Trondhjem, partly during stays at the Botanical Museum of the Christiania University, 

 and during a stay in Petrograd in the summer and autumn of 1916, with a grant from the 

 University at Christiania. In Petrograd I had the opportunity of examining the rich 

 botanical collections from Siberia in the herbarium of the Imperial Botanical Gardens of 

 Peter the Great, and in the Imperial Scientific Academy. A series of the authentic speci- 

 mens of TuRczANiNow, Regel, Ledebour,Meyer and other explorers of Siberia, which are 

 to be found here, have especially been of great interest to me. I am, moreover, also 

 indebted to the Museum of Bergen and the Botanical Museum of the Scientific Academy 

 at Stockholm for loan of material for comparison. 



I have, however, occasionally been able to profit by the advice and suggestions 

 of some specialists, such as in Petrograd: Professor Dr. W. Komarow, Professor Dr. 

 B. Fedschenko, Dr. R. Roschewitz, Dr N. Shipszinsky and Dr.W. Sukatczew, to all of whom 

 I tender my sincerest thanks. Moreover, I call to mind with especial thankfulness my 

 friend Dr. Iwan Nowopokrowsky for the kind assistance he rendered me at a time Avhen 

 so many difficulties were thrown in the way of foreigners in Petrograd, thus enabling me, 

 under the existing condition of things, to profit richly by my stay there. During the sub- 

 sequent composition of my manuscript here at Trondhjem, he has also been kind enough 

 to lend me from his private library a series of very useful books, which are no more in the 



