1885.] PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 467 



COMANCHE CREEK. 



Comanche Creek springs from the foot of the limestone bank on 

 which stands Fort Stockton. It is a large, clear, rapid stream, strongly 

 impregnated with alkaline salts ; it runs 3 or 4 miles and then sinks. 

 The country roundabout, a vast expanse of gravelly sand, is dreary in 

 the extreme. There is not even a bush on the banks of the creek. Near 

 the water's edge I noticed a handsome form of Aspicarpa hyssopifolia ; 

 also Ludwigia palustris, Ipomcea sagittata, Samolus ebracteatus, and such 

 sea-shore plants as Statice Limoninm and Brizopyrum spicatum. 



On the gravelly mesa around the post are some of the usual herbs of 

 the region — Verbena bipinnatiftda, Baileya multiradiata, Biddellia fa- 

 getina, Heliotropium Greggii, Melampodium cinereum. 



MOTJNTATN STREAMS. 



The water-courses which drain the mountains are generally well tim- 

 bered. On the Limpio, the most important stream between the Pecos 

 and El Paso, stand groves of Cottonwood, scattered clumps of Ked 

 Oak and Emory's Oak, Hackberry, and Willow. Near its heads are 

 forests of Pine. In the picturesque Wild Eose Pass the Bosa Arkan- 

 sana is common; still more so are the feathery Fallugia paradoxa and 

 the economic Canagre. 



The Cibolo, running on the east side of the Chenate Mountains, is 

 densely wooded. Cottonwood (Populns Fremonti) 4 and 5 feet in di- 

 ameter, and Texas Green Ash, 40 and 50 feet high with trunk 1 to 2 

 feet in diameter, are characteristically prominent. The other trees are 

 Hackberry, Soapberry, Nogal (Juglans rupestris), Wild Mulberry (Morus 

 microphylla), and Willows (Salix longifolia and nigra). '''Over these trees 

 the Arroyo Grape ( Vitis riparia) climbs luxuriantly, forming dense walls 

 and bowers which yield, in the fall, small but very palatable bunches 

 of fruit. p South of the mountains and long before reaching the Eio 

 Grande, the Cibolo is dry and timberless. 



West of the Chenate Mountains runs Capote Creek, a small stream 

 shaded from the fall to its mouth with Cottonwood, Texas Green Ash, and 

 Willows. The neighboring bluffs are covered with excellent grass, prin- 

 cipally Bouteloua and Catliestechum. I collected, at the fall, a new shrub, 

 Sageretia Wrightii, Watson; and, thereabout, the following rare and in- 

 teresting plants: Elytraria tridendata, Sedum Wrightii, JJesmodium spi- 

 rale, Hibiscus Coulteri, Boerhaavia scandens, Pentstemon acuminatus, Aris- 

 talochia brevipes. 



The Chisos Mountains are drained by the Tornillo on the east and 

 the Tarlinga on the west. The former, mostly dry, bears on its. upper 

 part a few small scattered Cottonwood, stunted Hackberry, Willows, 

 and copses of shrubby Tornillo or Screw Bean (Prosopis pubescens). Its 

 lower part is entirely naked. The Tarlinga contains more water and 

 better timber ; clumps of Cottonwood, beginning at Agua Fria, dot its 



