484 Expedition to the 



along the river, were white with an effloresced salt; but this 

 being impure and but imperfectly soluble, did not appear to 

 have been licked. 



Towards evening we passed two springs, of transparent, 

 but impure and brackish water. They were the first we had 

 met with on the Platte. Among a considerable number of 

 undtscribcd plants collected on the 27th, are three referrible 

 to the family of the rough -leaved plants, (asperifolise) one 

 of them belonging to a genus not heretofore known in the 

 United States. It has a salver-form corrolla, with a large, 

 spreading, angular, plaited border. Another plant very con- 

 spicuously ornamental to these barren deserts, is a lactescent 

 annual, belonging to the family of the convolvulacae, with a 

 bright purple corrolla, as large as that of the common Stram- 

 monium. We also observed the white stalked primrose, 

 (Oenothera albicaulis, N.) a very small white flowered spe- 

 cies of Talinum, and some others. We observed in repeat- 

 ed instances, several individuals of a singular genus of rep- 

 tiles (Chirotes. Cuv.) which, in form, resemble short ser- 

 pents, but are more closely allied to the lizards, by being 

 furnished with two feet. They were so active that it was not 

 without some difficulty that we succeeded in obtaining a spe- 

 cimen. Of this (as was our uniform custom, when any ap- 

 parently new animal was presented) we immediately drew out 

 a description. But as the specimen was unfortunately lost, and 

 the description formed part of the Zoological notes and ob- 

 servations, which were carried off by our deserters, we are 

 reduced to the necessity of merely indicating the probability 

 of the existence of the Chirotes lumbricoides of naturalists, 

 within the territory of the United States. 



At night we were again alarmed by a disturbance among 

 our horses, of which we were not able to ascertain the cause. 

 Some of the party had, on the preceding day, reported that 

 they had seen Indians at a distance, that they were on horse 

 back, &c. but of this there could be no certainty, the ima- 



