20 BULLETIN 117, UI^ITED STATES NATIONAL, MUSEUM. 



Growing at the river margin are alder and willow trees, fonning a sort of border. 

 The valley floor generally and the lower liillsides are bush-covered by the yellow- 

 flowered Slenololnum, small Escallonia trees, pepper trees, giant cactus of the genus 

 Cereus, tree-like Opuntia cactus, yuccas, and a host of peculiar floral forms. 



Heller Expedition, May, 1915; Chapman Expedition, July 10, 1916; 

 90 specimens of 33 species. 



Above Torontoy (Altitude, 9,500-12,000 ft., liumid Temperate 

 Zone). — This region lies wholly within the humid Temperate Zone. 

 It was visited by Heller largely in search of mammals, but the birds 

 secured show its faunal affmities to be with those of Cedrobamba. 

 Heller describes it as follows: 



The Urubamba Valley at Torontoy is unforested, but the mountain slopes of the 

 eastern side far above the ancient villages are clothed by dense primeval forest to 

 the limits of snow and glaciers. In this elevated forested region I established two 

 camps, one at timber line on the steep moimtain slope, at an altitude of 12,000 feet, 

 and the other in the heart of the forest in a broad, level part of the creek valley, at 

 10,500 feet elevation. The mountain side at timber line was so steep that it was 

 found necessary to dig out a platform large enough for the foundation of the 8 by 10 

 foot tent which I carried. The camp was pitched on a forested ridge, one side of 

 which was bounded by a stream, and the other by a shallow ravine occupied by a 

 grizzled glazier of small extent which terminated not far below. The nights were 

 bitter cold, and when the sky was unclouded the ground at dawn was white with a 

 heavy frost. The days as a rule were misty, but seldom rainy, the mist being of a 

 dripping, saturating sort, quite as effective as rain. Early in the morning before the 

 mists had rolled up as high as timber line, a magnificent view of the snow peak of 

 Salcantay and the high ranges over which it dominates could be seen across the cloud- 

 filled valley of the Urubamba. 



The forest vegetation of the timber-line area near camp was made up principally of 

 three features; tall bamboo tliickets, trees, and the shorter grassland of the Andean 

 Zone. Acaena trees grew to immense size here, some of them being 8 feet in diameter. 

 Much of the very highest forest was made up of small Gynoxys trees of uniform size 

 and free from bamboo or undershrubs. The ground in these forests was carpeted by 

 a heavy coat of elastic green moss into which we often sank ankle-deep, wliile the tree 

 trunks and branches were festooned by loads of gray and black lichens. The rock 

 formations in the immediate vicinity of camp were hidden by the vegetation, but the 

 higher slopes above the limits of vegetation appeared to be dark gray slates in com- 

 position. 



The central camp was established in the middle of a wide part of the valley of 

 Torontoy Creek at 10,500 feet altitude at a place where the original trail-builders into 

 this unknown forest had erected a temporary hut a few months previously. The 

 stream ran beside the camp over a pebbly bed, limpid, cold and almost tranquil. 

 On all sides the forest spread completely filling the valley and ascending the steep 

 slopes to the lower limits of snowfields at the summit. The trees in character differed 

 somewhat from those at timber line, the number of species being considerably greater 

 and tlie undergrowth of bushes and bamboo much more luxuriant. The ground moss 

 and open character of the upper forest was quite wanting. The climate was milder. 

 At night it was cool, but no frost occurred. 



Heller Expedition, May, 1915; 47 specimens of 24 species. 



San Miguel Bridge (altitude, 6,000 feet. Subtropical Zone). — An 

 important collecting station for both the Heller and Chaimian ex- 

 peditions. The river bottom here lies at the lower border of the 



