Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 
33 
through forests of splendid bull pine, which reached to the sum¬ 
mit, although the higher ravines sheltered firs, frequently of very 
large size. The view from Mt. Pinos was wonderful, particu¬ 
larly to the southeast, in which direction, although many miles 
away, the high peaks of the San Bernardino and San Jacinto 
ranges dominated the landscape. 
On our return trip to Bakersfield, shortly before reaching Lebec, 
in a broad canyon wash, we secured series of certain of the 
scarcest genera of Orthoptera known from this portion of Cali¬ 
fornia. 
Trona, on Searles Lake, was our next stop; here is the plant of the 
American Trona Corporation, which extracts borax, salt, potash and 
trona from the Searles Lake deposits. The manager of the plant 
was most courteous and splendid quarters were assigned to us. 
Here every possible arrangement seems to have been made to make 
life comfortable, or at least endurable, in a desert region which is 
exceedingly hot during much of the year. Trona was to be the 
base from which we hoped to reach Panamint Valley and the 
higher Panamint Mountains. We secured an automobile and a 
driver, Dickinson, who cheerfully and whole heartedly took a 
personal interest in our work and helped to the limit of his ability. 
For nearly two weeks he accompanied us in the Panamint region, 
and then from San Diego across to the Imperial Valley. 
Panamint Valley, the great western counterpart of Death Valley, 
is a wonderful prospect, stretching off to the north a great distance, 
limited on the west by the Argus Range, dominated by Maturango 
Peak, on the east walled by the massive barrier of the Panamint 
Range, with Telescope Peak crowning all. The Panamints appear 
very lofty from the west, but they do not give the over-powering 
impression they create upon the observer on the floor of Death Val¬ 
ley at the foot of their eastern cliffs. This can be under-stood when 
it is realized that from the east they tower more than a thousand 
feet higher from the basal sink than they do on the west, the floor of 
Death Valley being so much lower. 
The sink of Panamint Valley is an extensive mud saline, hardly 
more than a thousand feet above sea level, and the road crossing is 
frequently very bad. Fortunately for us we had no difficulty, 
although it had been very soft but a few days previous. A melan¬ 
choly and unusual object was noticed here in the shape of a mired 
