432 



FIRST YEAR SCIENCE 



maintained above villages to check the avalanches if pos- 

 sible and thus to protect the villages. 



206. Mountain Animals and Plants. As the temperature 

 of mountains varies greatly from bottom to top, so the 



animals and plants must 

 vary. Near the foot of 

 the mountain the plants 

 will be similar to those 

 of the surrounding 

 country, but these will 

 soon disappear as the 

 slope is ascended, since 

 the temperature will 

 have decreased, and 

 their place will be filled 

 by those capable of with- 

 standing greater cold. 

 If the mountains are 

 sufficiently high, the 

 tops will be bare or 

 covered with ice and 



LANDSLIDE AT AMALFI. 



This destroyed a part of the famous 



monastery. 



snow. 



The animals of moun- 

 tains vary somewhat as 

 do the plants, but since animals have the power of move- 

 ment, their distribution will not be so uniform. They 

 may ascend the mountain during the summer and retreat 

 down the slope when the weather becomes severe. Animals 

 driven from the plains by other animals or by man often 

 find a place of safety in mountain regions. 



The buffalo of the western United States found their 

 only place of safety, until protected by stringent laws, in 

 the mountainous region of the Yellowstone. The last 

 small herd of caribou made their final stand in central 



