Herbaceous plants are much more numerous here than in any other part of Sikkim; and sitting at my tent-door, I could, without rising from the ground, gather forty-three plants,* [In England thirty is, on the average, the equivalent number of plants, which in favourable localities I have gathered in an equal space. In both cases many are seedlings of short-lived annuals, and in neither is the number a test of the luxuriance of the vegetation; it but shows the power which the different species exert in their struggle to obtain a place.] of which all but two belonged to English genera. In the rich soil about the cottages were crops of dock, shepherd's-purse, _Thlaspi arvense, Cynoglossum_ of two kinds (one used as a pot-herb), balsams, nettle, _Galeopsis,_ mustard, radish, and turnip. On the neighbouring hills, which I explored up to 15,000 feet, I found many fine plants, partaking more or less of the Siberian type, of which _Corydalis, Leguminosae, Artemisia,_ and _Pedicularis,_ are familiar instances. I gathered upwards of 200 species, nearly all belonging to north European genera. Twenty-five were woody shrubs above three feet high, and six were ferns; [_Cryptogramma crispa, Davallia,_ two _Aspidia,_ and two _Polypodia._ I gathered ten at the same elevation, in the damper Zemu valley (see chapter xix, note). I gathered in this valley a new species of the remarkable European genus _Struthiopteris,_ which has not been found elsewhere in the Himalaya.] sedges were in great profusion, amongst them three of British kinds: seven or eight were _Orchideae,_ including a fine _Cypripedium._ The entomology of Tallum, like its botany, was Siberian, Arctic types occurring at lower elevations than in the wetter parts of Sikkim. Of beetles the honey-feeding ones prevailed, with European forms of others that inhabit yak-droppings.* [As _Aphodius_ and _Geotrupes._ Predaceous genera were very rare, as _Carabus_ and _Staphylinus,_ so typical of boreal regions. _Coccinella_ (lady-bird), which swarms at Dorjiling, does not ascend so high, and a _Clytus_ was the only longicorn. _Bupretis, Elater,_ and _Blaps_ were found but rarely. Of butterflies, the _Machaon_ seldom reaches this elevation, but the painted-lady, _Pontia, Colias, Hipparchia, Argynnis,_ and _Polyommatus,_ are all found.] Bees were common, both _Bombus_ and _Andraena,_ but there were no wasps, and but few ants. Grasshoppers and other _Orthoptera_ were rare, as were _Hemiptera_; _Tipula_ was the common dipterous insect, with a small sand-fly: there were neither leeches, mosquitos, ticks, nor midges. Pigeons, red-legged crows, and hawks were the common birds; with a few waders in the marshes.