/j)(')ij)i;i('.\i. i:xi'i:i)rn()\ ro \\i:sri:i{\ ('oi.omuja 207 



western sl()|)e of llie ('ciiIimI li;iiii:c apparently do not reeei\c ;i. siillicieiit 

 amount of rainfall to ])ro(luee lu>a\y forest ^fowtli. When one ascends the 

 Central Ixanu'e howex'er. hea\y forests are foinid at an ele\ation of ahout 

 (iOOO feet, and from this point to IL', .")()() feet forest jj;ro\vth prevails. Ahoxe 

 IJ, .")()() feet occur the paramos, those treeless marshes which may he com- 

 pared to the tundras of the Xorth. 



Adding to these widely \aryini;- conditions the hroad savannahs of the 

 Cauca \alley, it is clear that we ha\e here a, rcf^ion suited to the wants of a 

 i;rcat \ariet\ of life and one oiVcrin.u- an c\cee(lin.uly [^-omisinj; field for the 

 studv of the intlncnccs winch govern the dist rilmt ion of life. 



In Novcmlicr, 1 *)!(), Mr. W. \\. Uiciiurdson was dispatched to the ("auca 

 \ alley, with iH^adcjuarters at Cali and instructions to work the west sloj)e 

 of the Coast l{an!j,-e. In March, 1011, the writer accom])anied hy Mr. 

 Louis Aii,assiz Fuertes as artist, and Mr. Leo K. Miller as preparateiu', 

 joined Mr. Richardson at Cali. Mr. Richardson havinj,^ completed his 

 work on the western sloi)e of" the Coast Range, we began our operations on 

 the siunmit of the range near tiie San Antonio Pass, at an elevation of (iCiOO 

 feet. IIcr(> large colli>ctions were made, as well as field studies for a hahitat 

 group, -which has for its immediate foreground tlu> forest on the summit 

 of tlie ('oast Range, whence one looks down the arid east sIojjc of this range 

 to the fertile Catica \'alley with the Central Range rising in the distance. 



h'rom this point the exjx'dition journeye(l to the hacienda La Mamielita 

 in the Cauca X'alley, three miles north of Palmira, where for a time we were 

 the guests of Mr. Charles J. Kder. Later we ascended the Central Range 

 to the eastward reaching an elevation of ()200 feet, where Mr. Lder placed 

 at our disposal a bungalow which he has had erected there. At this point 

 primeval forests wer(> only three lumdrtMl feet above us, and we found our- 

 selves very favorably sitmited for the j)in-poscs of collecting and observing. 

 Expeditions were nuide farther into the mountains from this point as a 

 base, and much interesting and no\-el information secm-cd. 



Lroni Mirallores, as this locality is named, we traveled northward into 

 the (anca \'allc,v in an ell'ort to lind a ])lace at which first-growth forests 

 still exist. In this attempt however, we were only partiall.v successful 

 since the region has been so long settled that the original forest has dis- 

 ai^jK-ared. Returning to Cali, our base, on ALiy 15, AL-. Richardson with 

 Mr. Miller and a native assistant, were sent to Popayan at the southern 

 end of the valley with instructions to penetrate the Coast Range to the 

 westward, while Mr. Fuertes and the writer went uj) the valley to Cartago 

 at its northern end, and thence across the Central Andes o\-er the Quindio 

 Pass to the Magdalena River at (Jirardot; here we embafked for Harraii(|uilla 

 near the mouth of the river, and later sailed fi'om ."^aiita Marta for New 



