GUAPUCHA. 203 



the title of our volumes indicate, a short summary 

 of them, taken from the two volumes alluded to, 

 and particularly from the memoir entitled " Re- 

 serches sur les Poissons Fleuvatiles de rAmerique 

 Meridioiiale," may be useful. 



In writing of the distribution of fishes, and com- 

 paring that of South America with the Alpine parts 

 of Europe, he remarks, * 6 no species of Salmo in- 

 habits any parts of the Andes which I have exa- 

 mined; the last fishes which are met with in the 

 rivulets and lakes, at 1 400, or J 600 toises, are of 

 the genus Paecilia, Pimelodus, and two genera of a 

 very remarkable foTm,Eremophilits and Astroblepus; 

 at 1800 or 1900 toises the Alpine lakes under the 

 equator no longer contain fishes; and he does not 

 attribute this fact to the ice which covers the lakes, 

 for the Laguna de Mica, on the plain of Antisana, 

 east of Quito, at an elevation of 2100, is free from 

 ice almost at all seasons ; yet, if we understand the 

 Paron correctly, it is destitute of fishes. 



Near Santa-Fe de Bogota, a small fish was pro- 

 cured, under the native name of Guapitcka. It was 

 found, perhaps exclusively, at an elevation of 1360 

 toises above the level of the sea, in the cool waters of 

 the little stream Bogota, which traverses the plateau 

 of Santa Fe, and precipitating itself by the celebrated 

 Fall of Tequendama, mingles its waters under the 

 name of Rio Tocama, with those of the Magdalena. 

 The species is referred by Valenciennes to the genus 

 Pecilia, Cuv., a group of small fishes inhabiting 

 the fresh- waters of South America, characterised by 



