1885.] PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 483 



West of the Santiago Bange, between it and San Jacinto Peak, is a 

 vast plain, timberless and waterless, but mostly covered with good grass. 

 If water could be struck in places by boring, or collected* in tanks, it 

 would afford miles of. excellent pasturage. 



The gramineous vegetation of the prairie consists chiefly of the fol- 

 lowing species, arranged as far as possible in the order of their worth : 



Buchloe dactyloides (Buffalo-Grass), east of the Pecos. 



Bouteloua oligostachya, hirsuta, eriopoda, racemosa (Gramas). 



Pappophorum Wrightii. 



Triodia acuminata and pulchella. 



Hilaria mutica (north) and cenchroides (south). 



Aristida purpurea, dispersa, Schiediana, stricta. 



Muhlenbergia Texana and arenicola. 



Andropogon saccharides and scoparius. 



Lycurus phleoides. 



Panicum obtusum, leucophceum, Hallii. 



Setaria caudata. 



The prairie, although apparently smooth, is seldom entirely free from 

 shrubby plants, of which the most common are: A slender, straggling 

 form of Clematis Drummondii ; a small, branching variety of Acacia fiU 

 icina (A. Hartwegi of Bentham) ; dwarf Mezquit, Microrhamnus ericoides, 

 Zizyphus obtusifolius, Ephedra tr if urea and antisyphilitica, Larrea Mexi- 

 cana, Yucca angustifolia, Nolina Texana, Opuntia arborescens. 



During the summer the prairie is decked with the blossoms of the 

 following herbs : 



Talinum aurantiacum. 



Calophanes linearis. 



Linum Berlandieri and rigidum. 



Callirrhoe pedata and digitata. 



Sida physocalyx and diffusa. 



Sphceralcea hastulata. 



Kyctaginia capitata. 



Abronia turbinata. 



Oxybaphus angustifolius and aggregatus. 



Cooperia Drummondii. 



Phaseolvs retusus. 



Rhynchosia Texana. 



Petalostemon candidus and multiflorus. 



Verbena bipinnatiflda. 



Chamcesaracha Coronopus. 



Solanum elceagnifolium. 



Tradescantia Virginica. 



Commelina Virginica and dianthifolia. 



Salvia lanceolata. 



