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Tanfil.iew gives a short description of the different parts 

 of the Russian desert-territory wliich ahnost completely en- 

 circles the Caspian Sea. 



1. The Calmuck Steppe between the rivers Manitsh and 

 Volga and the Jergeni Mountains. The soil is here mainly 

 clayey, and sparsely covered with species of Artemisia, Achillea, 

 Alyssum minimum, Lepidium perfoliatum, Triticum, Poa hul- 

 bosa, Ceratocarpus, Astragalus, Alhagi, Zggophyllum, Anabasis 

 etc. In sandy tracts the plants include Elgmus sabulosus, 

 Calamagrostis Epigejos, Euphorbia Gerardiana, Agriophyllum 

 and Calligonum Pallasii; in salt-swamps are Tamarix and 

 Salsolaceae. 



2. The Kirghiz Steppe (Inner Horde) between the Volga 

 and the Ural. The soil is saline clay with here and there 

 moving-sands. The northern parts are the most fertile and 

 include depressions with Tjernosem and true steppe-plants; 

 here for instance are seen Stipa capillata and Lessingiana, 

 Koeleria cristata, Silene viscosa and Otites, Phlomis tuberosa and 

 pungens. etc., while the ordinary chenopodiaceous vegetation 

 may be found on the neighbouring saline clay soil. Farther 

 south the vegetation is poorer and in the sandy areas Pulsa- 

 tilla, Tribulus, Cgtisus biflorus, Astragalus, Amygdalus nana, 

 Thymus odoratissimus, etc., ai'e replaced by Elymus sabulosus, 

 Stipa, Poa bulbosa, Carex stenophylla and physodes. Some of 

 the latter are also found on the more northern sand areas, 

 but are reported to be less prominent there. On the clay 

 areas species of Artemisia are dominant. Low hills of gypsum 

 have a characteristic vegetation (Matthiola tatarica, Eremosta- 

 chys tuberosa, Fritillaria gibbosa, elc). 



3. East of the Ural river, Tanfiljew gives as the ap- 

 proximate northern limit of the desert, a line from Uralsk 

 through Ulu Uil, the southern end of the Mugodshar moun- 

 tains, the town of Irgis (Ft. Uralsk) to the southern spurs of 

 the Ulutau mountains. North of this line lies the Stipa- 

 steppe, which in Tanfiuew's phytogeographical map of the 

 Russian empire is also included in the desert. South of the 

 Stipa steppes there is a salt clay-desert which occupies the 

 peninsula of Mangishlak, the Usturt plateau and the area 



