383 
[ TRANSLATION. ] 
ON THE FLORA OF SOUTHERN ITALIAN SOMALILAND. 
In Southern Italian Somaliland, desert formations are 
altogether wanting. The flora of the hygrophilous type is 
limited to the forests along the Juba and less on the banks of 
the Uebi Scebeli, in the swamps along the borders of the 
Lower Juba, in the region of Balli, where the waters of the 
Uebi Scebeli disperse themselves, and in the mangrove 
formation at the mouth of the Juba and at other points of 
the coast. 
The remainder of the country is occupied by xerophilous 
flora, which may be divided into several zones as hereafter 
shown, taking into account, especially, the nature of the soil. 
1. Zone of the permanent dunes along the entire coast, of 
an average width of from 15 to 20 kilometres, with low acacias 
and umbelliferous plants predominating. 
2. Alluvial plain of the Juba and of the Scebeli, with a pre- 
dominance of prairies constituted by low graminacee with 
very few leguminous plants between; in the damper localities, 
as, for instance, along the Juba, the graminaceous plants of 
from one to three metres in height predominate; sometimes the 
low prairie transforms itself into park-land with trees standing 
at considerable distances from each other, mostly acacias and 
terminalias. 
3. Lands of calcareous origin still farther towards the 
interior, rocky and alluvial, with dense woods purely xero- 
philous and showing very few herbaceous plants. 
4. Sandy and siliceous land of granitic origin, intermixed 
with the preceding formations in the lower parts; here the 
flora is of a less xerophilous nature and the other less densely 
grown parts recall to mind a park formation; the herbaceous 
vegetation is chiefly represented by graminaceous, cypera- 
ceous, and leguminous plants. 
5. Chalk zone, still farther towards the interior, with a 
xerophilous flora, as in the calcareous lands, with eypsophilous 
and alophilous plants. £ 
The native plantations are chiefly in the alluvial districts 
along the rivers, or in the interior, as, for instance, at Baidoa. 
SUR L’EXPLORATION DE LA FLORE DE L’ASIE RUSSE, 
Par Boris DE FEDTSCHENKO, 
Principal Botanist, Imperial Botanic Garden of Peter the 
Great, St. Petersburg. 
[No abstract supplied by the author. ] 
