f the plain, with a few added species, form the bulk of the
herbaceous portion of the vegetation up to a height of 1500 feet or
more, shaded lightly here and there with oaks and Sabine Pines, and
interrupted by patches of ceanothus and buckeye. Above this, and just
below the forest region, there is a dark, heath-like belt of chaparral,
composed almost exclusively of _Adenostoma fasciculata_, a bush
belonging to the rose family, from five to eight feet high, with small,
round leaves in fascicles, and bearing a multitude of small white
flowers in panicles on the ends of the upper branches. Where it occurs
at all, it usually covers all the ground with a close, impenetrable
growth, scarcely broken for miles.

Up through the forest region, to a height of about 9000 feet above
sea-level, there are ragged patches of manzanita, and five or six
species of ceanothus, called deer-brush or California lilac. These are
the most important of all the honey-bearing bushes of the Sierra.
_Chamaebatia foliolosa_, a little shrub about a foot high, with flowers
like the strawberry, makes handsome carpets beneath the pines, and seems
to be a favorite with the bees; while pines themselves furnish unlimited
quantities of pollen and honey-dew. The product of a single tree,
ripening its pollen at the right time of year, would be sufficient for
the wants of a whole hive. Along the streams there is a rich growth of
lilies, larkspurs, pedicularis, castilleias, and clover. The alpine
region contains the flowery glacier meadows, and countless small gardens
in all sorts of places full of potentilla of several species, spraguea,
ivesia, epilobium, and goldenrod, with beds of bryanthus and the
charming cassiope covered with sweet bells. Even the tops of the
mountains are blessed with flowers,--dwarf phlox, polemonium, ribes,
hulsea, etc. I have seen wild bees and butterflies feeding at a height
of 13,000 feet above the sea. Many, however, that go up these dangerous
heights never come down again. Some, undoubtedly, perish in storms, and
I have found thousands lying dead or benumbed on the surface of the
glaciers, to which they had perhaps been attracted by the white glare,
taking them for beds of bloom.

From swarms that escaped their owners in the lowlands, the honey-bee is
now generally distributed throughout the whole length of the Sierra, up
to an elevation of 8000 feet above sea-level. At this height they
flourish without care, though the snow ever