Close to the oasis the plain forms the highway for caravans as well as the drilling ground for army recruits, so that the herbage is either trodden under foot or eaten to the roots. Somewhat farther away, where the plain rises to meet the mountains, we first encounter perennials large enough and abundant enough for consideration, the most prominent being quedad (_Acanthyllis tragacanthoides_), adhidh (_Zollikoferia spinosa_), rempt (_Haloxylon articulatum_), and drinn (_Aristida pungens_); _Acanthyllis_ is perhaps the most numerous. Quedad is the most striking plant native to Laghouat. It is a shrub, related to _Astragalus_, usually not over 40 cm. high. A single specimen consists of a group of unbranched or little-branched stems, rather stout, of a grayish-green color, and provided with long and stout spines. As a whole the plant has a very close resemblance to small specimens of ocotillo (_Fouquieria splendens_) of the southwestern United States. During dry seasons the stems are bare, but when the rains return leaves are put out in the axils of the spines, which are the rachides of the leaves. The habit of quedad is shown in figs. 4 and 6. Although the species is so well protected against attack by animals that it rarely, if ever, suffers on that account, it is made a supplemental food through the burning off of the spines. When thus prepared the half-woody stems are eaten with avidity by camels. The census of _Acanthyllis_ was taken on the upper portion of the arid plain at a place where the plant seemed to be most abundant. On an area 16 by 16 meters, 92 specimens were found living. This was the dominant species. Other species, present in less number, were so badly eaten by animals as to be quite unrecognizable.