x INTRODUCTION. 
SALVADOR. 
This small Republic lies south of Honduras, with which it is conterminous, and has 
a comparatively low seaboard of alluvial plains. It consists chiefly of a tableland of 
about 2000 feet in height, broken by a number of volcanic cones of more recent origin 
than the main Cordillera, which lies further north, within the Honduras boundary. It 
is well watered and the natural forests are said to have been to a great extent 
destroyed for the cultivation of the land. Only a very small amount of our material 
has been obtained here, and, judging from the configuration of the country, but little 
that is peculiar need be expected. 
NICARAGUA. 
The chief geographical feature of Nicaragua is the remarkable depression stretching 
from the Pacific to the Atlantic and transversely to the central plateau, which it 
completely interrupts. This depression lies at a mean elevation of about 100 feet 
above the sea-level and is partially occupied by two lakes—the smaller one, Managua, - 
sixteen feet above the larger, Nicaragua, together stretching some 150 miles from 
north-west to south-east, and finally discharging their waters into the Atlantic by the 
San Juan River at the southern point of the Mosquito coast. The highest mountains, 
called the Maribros, which are insignificant in comparison with those of some of the 
countries here described, are chiefly clustered in the small area between the end of 
Lake Managua and Fonseca Bay. ‘There are also the volcanoes of Masaya and 
Mombacha near Granada, and the two volcanic islands of Zapatera and Ometépe in 
Lake Nicaragua, the latter with its twin peaks Ometépe (4100 feet) and Madera 
(4190 feet), which at times are more or less active. The little-known region of rugged 
savannas and plateaux, beyond the mining-districts of Matagalpa and Chontales, 
whence the chief of our Nicaraguan collections came, occupies about one-half of 
Nicaragua between the lacustrine depression and the low swampy Mosquito coast; 
this is drained by several rivers, all flowing eastward, the chief of them being the 
Escondido. No certain information is available as to the distribution of forests. 
COSTA RICA. 
South of the lakes of Nicaragua the mountain-range rises again in the N.W. of 
Costa Rica and is studded with volcanic peaks. Beginning from the north, Orosi 
