XV.] 
TOPORKOFF ISLAND. 
291 
in vain attempting to induce them to take some food. One of 
them was brought home in spirits for anatomical examination. 
The part of Behring Island which we saw forms a high plain 
resting on volcanic rocks/ which, however, is interrupted at 
many places by deep kettle valleys, the bottoms of which are 
generally occupied by lakes which communicate with the sea 
by large or small rivers. The banks of the lakes and the 
slopes of the hills are covered with a luxuriant vegetation, rich 
in long grass and beautiful flowers; among them an iris culti¬ 
vated in our gardens, the useful dark reddish-brown Sarana 
lily, several orchids, two species of rhododendron with large 
flowers, umbellifera as high as a man, sunflower-like synanthea, 
&c. Quite another nature prevailed on the island lying off 
the haven, regarding which Dr. Kjellman and Dr.-Stuxberg 
make the following statements :—• 
“ Toporkoff Island is formed of an eruptive rock, which 
everywhere rises along the shore some scores of feet from 
high-water mark, in the form of steep cracked walls from five 
to fifteen metres in height, which is different at different places. 
Above these steep rock-walls the surface of the island forms 
an even plain; what lies below them forms a gently sloping 
beach. 
“ This gently sloping beach consists of two well-marked belts ; 
an outer devoid of all vegetation, an inner overgrown with 
Ammadenia peploides^ Elymus mollis, and two species of umbel¬ 
lifera, HeracUum sihiricum, and Angelica aTchangelico,, the two 
last forming an almost impenetrable thicket fifty metres broad 
and as high as a man, along the slope. The steep rock-walls 
are coloured yellow at some places by lichens, mostly Caloplam 
mnroTum Cal. cremdata ; at other places they are covered 
pretty closely with CocMearia fenestrata. The uppermost level 
plain is covered with a close and luxuriant turf, over which 
^ According to a statement by Mr. Grebnitski, tertiary fossils and coal 
seams are also to be found on Behring Island, the former north of the 
colony in the interior, the latter at the beach south of Behring’s grave. 
Also in the neighbourhood , of the colony the volcanic rock-masses are 
under-stratified by thick sandy beds. 
u 2 
