68 LACHEN VALLEY. Chap. XX. 



In the rich soil about the cottages were crops of clock, 

 shepherd's -purse, Thlaspi arvense, Cynoylossum of two 

 kinds (one used as a pot-herb), balsams, nettle, Galeopsis, 

 mustard, radish, and turnip. On the neighbouring hills, 

 which I explored up to 15,000 feet, I found many fine 

 plants, partaking more or less of the Siberian type, of which 

 Corydcdis, LeyuminoscB, Artemisia, and Pedicularis, are fami- 

 liar instances. I gathered upwards of 200 species, nearly all 

 belonging to north European genera. Twenty-five were 

 woody shrubs above three feet high, and six were ferns ; * 

 sedges were in great profusion, amongst them three of 

 British kinds : seven or eight were OrcJiidecs, including 

 a fine Cypripedium. 



The entomology of Tallum, like its botany, was Siberian, 

 Arctic types occurring at lower elevations than in the wetter 

 parts of Sikkim. Of beetles the honey-feeding ones prevailed, 

 with European forms of others that inhabit y ak- droppings. f 

 Bees were common, both Bombus and Androencii but there 

 were no wasps, and but few ants. Grasshoppers and other 

 Orthoptera were rare, as were Hemiptera ; Tipida was the 

 common dipterous insect, with a small sand-fly : there 

 were neither leeches, mosquitos, ticks, nor midges. Pigeons, 

 red-legged crows, and hawks were the common birds ; with 

 a few waders in the marshes. 



Being now fairly behind most of the great snow and 

 rain-collecting mountains, I experienced a considerable 



* Cryptogramma crispa, Davallia, two Aspidia, and two Polypodia. I gathered 

 ten at the same elevation, in the damper Zemu valley (see p. 49, note). I gathered 

 in this valley a new species of the remarkable European genus Struthiopteris, 

 which has not been found elsewhere in the Himalaya. 



f As Apliodius and Geotrupes. Predaceous genera were very rare, as Carabus and 

 Staphylinus, so typical of boreal regions. Coccinella (lady-bird), which swarms at 

 Dorjiling, does not ascend so high, and a Clytus was the only longicorn. 

 Bupretis, Mater, and Blaps were found but rarely. Of butterflies, the Machaon 

 seldom reaches this elevation, but the painted-lady, Pontia, Colzas, ffipparchia, 

 Aryynnis, and Polyommatus, are all found. 



