126 TRAVELS AMONGST THE GREAT ANDES. 



Mr. "Whyinper lias given me the fullowiiig details of the capture of this 

 Ami)hii)od at the above-named localities ; which, in view of the great heights 

 named, are wortliy of record. He says : — " The specimens from Machachi 

 were the first Crustacea I obtained in Ecuador, and were taken with my own 

 hands from a tiny rivulet, in a stagnant jjlace, to the S.E. of the town. 1 

 have a long series of observations of mercurial barometer for the height of 

 Machachi, and regard the deduced altitude as one of the best obtained on the 

 journey." 



" The specimens from the Valley of Collanes, and those from the vicinity 

 of tlie Hacienda (farm) of Antisana (situated on the lower slopes of Antisana) 

 came in each case from small pools. They were taken by my European 

 assistants and brought to me on the spot. The heights given for these local- 

 ities do not depend upon a single observation of mercurial barometer, but 

 upon several observations in each case, and the determinations are perhaps 

 within 50 feet of tlie truth." 



In the Ro})ort this species is said to have been taken in Colorado. Mr. 

 Walter Faxon says that it was " collected by Mr. Agassiz at San Antonio, 

 Peru, in saline water, 3300 feet above the sea; nitrate district of Pisagua," 

 and " during the voyage of the ' Hassler ' at Puerto Bueno, Smyth Channel, 

 Straits of Magellan." He also thinks that it should be united with the very 

 widely distributed species Hyalella dcntata, S. I. Smith, under tlie name 

 Allorchestes dentatus. var. inermis. There are, however, to my mind sufh- 

 cient reasons for retaining both the generic and specific names given it 

 by Mr. S. I. Smith, with a reserve in favour of the name andina mentioned 

 below. 



So far as I am aware, no species of Amphipod has been recorded from 

 heights so great as those of Mr, Whymper's stations liere mentioned. Gam- 

 mams lacustris, now called Gammarus limnwus, S. I. Smith, was taken by 

 Lieut. Carpenter in Colorado at an elevation of 9000 feet. In Europe, 

 Heller mentions the capture by Dr. Kotschy of a species called Orchedia cavi- 

 iiiana on INIonnt Olympus in Cyprus, at a height of 4000 feet, which was 

 thought surprising. Philippi, on his journey through the Chilian desert of 

 Atacama, the account of which was published in 1860, took a species which 

 he calls Am.])hilhne andina. at heights varying from 7500 to 10,500 feet 

 aljove the sea-level. It may be inferred from his description that he had be- 

 fore him a species of Hyalella., and not improbably that which has since been 

 distinguished by the specific name inermis. Wrzesniowski in 1879 described 

 three species belonging to the same genus, taken at heights of 7000 and 8000 

 feet above the sea-level, on the western and eastern slopes of the Cordilleras. 

 This author arranges the species in question in the genus Hyalc, subgenus 



