634 The American NaUiralist. [July. 
here and there could be seen the beautiful blue spikes of Pentstemon 
cceruleus Nutt., peeping above the grass or over the edge of some 
"blow-out," which I notice that they frequent. Erigeron strigosus 
Muhl. dotted the prairie all over, frequently rendering them gray 
with its little white flowers. Then our common evening primrose, 
(Enothera biennis L., I was not sorry to see, for it was one of my 
friends, and how rarely beautiful it was, with its unusually large 
flowers all coming into bloom at so nearly the same time. Perhaps its 
beauty is somewhat due to the stunted condition it has here in the 
sand hills. Its relative, the morning primrose I call it, 
serrulata Nutt., also added beauty to the prairies with its 
large yellow flowers. Haplopappus spinulosiis D. C, Amorpha canes- 
cens Nutt., Petalostemon violaceiis Michx., P. candidus Michx., P. 
villosus Nutt., Ceanothus ovatus Desf., Eriogonum annuum Nutt., 
Lithospennum hirtuni Lehm., etc., were among the showy flowers of 
the prairie. We frequently passed bunches of cactus of several kinds, 
but it was too late for their flowers. On one bunch, however, of the 
common Opuntia missouriensis D. C, I found the flowers yet nicely 
out. It may be of interest to mention that a bud of this particular 
specimen, after it had been in my press three weeks, when laid out in 
the sun one day for a few minutes blossomed out as nicely as if in its 
original sand hills. Fully a month after this, when I opened the 
package at home containing this, I found that while done up between 
papers with its flowers perfectly pressed, it had grown a joint fully 1^-2 
inches long. 
Our driver told us that we might look for antelope and deer on the 
divide, but although we saw numerous signs, perhaps fortunately for 
the scientific interest of our trip we could discover nothing more. 
As we approached the divide the region became more hilly, and 
from here on till we reached the Dismal River grew constantly more 
undulating, until, with the sand and increasing heat, travel became 
very tedious. Mr. Bruner's hands, face, and neck were burned to a 
blister by the hot sun, and my own were no better, About two o'clock 
in the afternoon, much to our satisfaction, we suddenly emerged from 
the hills, and descended at first gradually, then abruptly, into the 
valley of the Dismal River, our destination. We had ridden some 
twenty miles through sand-hills, had seen but one house, — a deserted 
sod shanty,— and not a sign of water. We stopped on the bank of 
the river and began to prepare for dinner. Mr. Bruner and I, with 
the natural instinct of collectors, started on a trip of discovery to get 
water, while the others were building a fire. While looking around 
