248 PHYSIOGNOMY OF PLANTS. 



and myself reached on the 23d of June, 1802, on the eastern 

 declivity of the Chimborazo, the height of 18,096 (19,286 E.) 

 f ee t a height at which the barometer sank to 13 inches 11| 

 lines (14,850 English inches), we saw winged insects fluttering 

 around us. We could see that they were Dipteras, resembling 

 flies, but on a sharp ridge of rock (cuchilla) often only ten 

 inches wide, between steeply descending masses of snow, it was 

 impossible to catch the insects. The height at which we saw them 

 was nearly the same at which the uncovered trachytic rock, piercing 

 through the eternal snows, gave to oiir view, in Lecidea geo- 

 graphica, the last traces of vegetation. The insects were flying at 

 a height of about 2850 toises (18,225 E. feet), or about 2600 E. 

 feet higher than Mont Blanc. Somewhat lower down, at about 

 2600 toises (15,626 E. feet), also therefore within the region of 

 perpetual snow, Bonpland had seen yellow butterflies flying very 

 near the ground. According to our present knowledge, the Mam- 

 malia which live nearest to the region of perpetual snow are in the 

 Swiss Alps, the Marmot which sleeps through the winter, and a 

 very small field-mouse (Hypudseus nivalis), described by Martins, 

 which on the Faulhorn lays up a store of the roots of phsenoga- 

 mous alpine plants almost under the snow. (Actes de la Socie*te 

 Helvetique, 1843, p. 324.) The beautiful Chinchilla, of which 

 the bright and silky fur is so much prized, is often supposed by 

 Europeans to be an inhabitant of the high mountain regions of 

 Chili: this, however, is an error; the Chinchilla laniger (Gray) 

 only lives in the mild temperature of the lower zone, and is not 

 found farther south than the parallel of 35. (Claudio Gay, His- 

 toria fisica y politica de Chile, Zoologia, 1844, p. 91.) 



While on our European Alps, Lecideas, Parmelias, and Umbili- 

 carias form only a few colored patches on the rocks which are not 

 completely covered with snow, in the Andes, beautiful flowering 

 phgenogamous plants, first described by us, live at elevations of 

 thirteen to fourteen thousand feet (13,700 to nearly 15,000 E.). 

 We found there woolly species of Culcitium and Espeletia (C. 

 nivale, C. rufescens, and C. reflexum, E. grandiflora, and E. argen- 

 tea), Sida pichinchensis, Ranunculus nubigenus, R. Gusmanni with 

 red or orange-colored blossoms, the small moss-like umbelliferous 



