or WESTERN SOUTH AMEIllCA. 161 



Stipa cuRYSOPnYLLA, Dcsv. This is described and figured in 

 the'Elora Chileua' (tab. 7G), but is Bot included by Pliilippi 

 among the species collected iu the Atacama desert. The speci- 

 mens distributed from Cl. Gay's herbarium were found near 

 Copiapu. 



The flora of Coquimbo is sufficiently well known, hut it includes 

 severiil curious plants Avhich appear to he confiaed to a narrow 

 zone of northern Chili. On the hill behind the town I found, 

 among others : — Cassia coquimlana^ ^^^^t ^ very ornamental plant 

 in full flower; Opliriosporus triangularis^ Meyen; Saplopappus 

 his2>iiIuhiSj DC., and II. parvifolius^ A. Gr. ; GnapJialium tdophyU 

 lum, Hook, et Arn. ; CeplialopJiora litoralis^ Phil.; and Cochranea 

 stenopliylla (Hook, et Arn., sub Heliotropio). I also observed a 

 A'^v^xi ^lammillaria witli crimson flowers growing in some abun- 

 dance, but of which I found but a single specimen in flower. It 

 appears to be undcscribcd, but I do not venture to name it. 



No place in South America is better known to naturalists than 

 Valparaiso, and although I visited it at the most unfavourable 

 season, at the end of autumn (^tay), and before the first w^inter 

 rain liad fallen, I was struck by the exceptional abundance and 

 variety of the vegetation for a region possessing a warm climate 

 with a mean annual rainfall of only 13 1 inches. 



Flora of Lota in Chili. 



My short vi^it to Lota, a port about 20 miles south of Con- 

 ccpcion, was chiefly occupied by the remarkable garden, or park, 

 of Madame Cou^^ino, the owner of the mine of excellent lignite 

 which has raij^ed this to a place of commercial importance. A 

 temperate climate, with sufficient rainfall (prohably about 40 

 inches a year)*, makes this spot admirably fitted for the cul- 



* The observations of rainfall at stations in Chili exhibit results so inconsis- 

 tent that it is difllcuU to feel any confidence in many of them. Thero is reason 

 to believe tliat the observations at Santi.-igo are carefully recorded and that a 

 suitable instrument is there employed, but as regards the other stations equal 

 reliance cannot be placed in either respect. The chief cause, however, of the 

 great discrepancies to be found in the published tables is the extreme variability 

 of the climate, especially of Central and Xorthern Chili. 



In an interesting work by Don B. Yieuna Mactenna, entitled ' Ensayo Ilis- 

 torico sobre el cliina del Chile,' that author has traced back from the early 

 records to tlie present time the recurrence at irregular intervals of exceptional 

 seasons with excessive rainfall or extreme dryness, and lias shown that, even in 

 years that cannot bs Ciilled exceptional, the rainfall in successive years frequently 

 varies in the proportion of 1 to 2 or 3. It is obvious that the results for a 



