— 55 — 



Some of the depressions have been filled with water, but 

 are now quite dried up and only contain thick incrustations 

 of sodium and magnesium sulphates or common salt (see 

 above p. 11). On the banks of the small lakes Salicornia is 

 dominant both in and above the water. Most of the spe- 

 cimens on shore were red, those in the water were generally 

 green. Round the foot of each plant, including the dead 

 ones, there was a granular mass of salt, which reached a 

 couple of centimetres up the stalk. This must have been 

 formed when the water was higher than now (analysis no. 4 

 p. 11). The following plant-species were found on the bank 

 of the lake. Aeluropus littoralis, low and withered Phragmites 

 (this was in the middle of July), Scirpus affinis. and in the 

 water Ruppia maritima. In a few places, a little way from 

 the banks, low Tamarisk bushes, Alghagi Camelorum and Hali- 

 mocnemis villosa were mixed with the Salicornias. 



These few observations will indicate that the vegetation 

 is mainly the same as on "Ssor", and that the difference 

 between "Batpak" and the former is therefore scarcely of 

 any oecological or phytogeographical importance, at any rate 

 if the water-plants of the lakes are left out of consideration. 



"Takyr" is the name given to flat depressions, often of 

 great extent (several kilometres) and which in a dry condition 

 have a hard, clayey and slightly saline surface. The}' are 

 often found in depressions among the dunes. In spring they 

 are under water and from this fine particles of material trans- 

 ported by water or wind are laid down. Thus, by degrees, 

 stratified water-loess is formed and prevents the water from 

 sinking into the ground. When "Takyr" are dry, the bottom 

 is hard like a threshing floor and the surface cracks and 

 peels off in crusts. These flats are, as a rule, perfectly de- 

 void of vegetation, because, Radde suggests, they dry up late 

 in the year and at a time when seeds cannot germinate on 

 account of the heat of the sun. I have never seen plants 

 on "Takyr", but Radde mentions that on certain low sand- 

 hills which rise above the water during spring, a few Chen- 

 opodiaceae may be found. Along the margins, that is where 

 the water first subsides, a poor "Wermuth-flora" [Artemisiae), 

 is also said to exist, and the stiff-leaved grass Crypsis aculeata 



