28 THE GEOCKArniCAL DISTniBUTION 



tlius, at the limit of perpetual snow, not only 

 llie thermometer but the plants indicated an 

 arctic or polar temperature. How strange, 

 then, knowing the territorial limits of the 

 palms, that some species should be foiuid 

 braving these polar altitudes. Humboldt found 

 the noble wax-palm, (Ccro.rylon andicola,) the 

 palmetto of Azufzal, {Oreodoxa frigida,) and 

 the slender and rccd-like Caiia de la viboi'a, 

 (lumtJtia inontcma,) all flourishing at elevations 

 varying from G,400 to 9, GOO feet above the 

 level of the sea, where the mean temperature is 

 scarcely 57° Fahr., and in a climate corre- 

 sponding to that of the south of England and 

 south of France. These palms grow among 

 nuts and oaks (Quercns gi^ajiatejjsis.) The same 

 enterprising traveller determined by accurate 

 barometric nieasurements the upper and lower 

 limits of the wax palm. He first observed it 

 on the eastern declivity of the Cordilleras of 

 Quindiu, at an elevation of 7,929 feet, frum 

 whence it ascended to the Garita del Paramo 

 and Los Volcancitos as high as 9,700 feet. In 

 the Himalaya range, Phaniix humilis is com- 

 mon in ihe Kherec pass at 2,500 feet above 

 the level of the sea in company with a fir, {Pinus 

 longifolia,) while Chamarops martiana occurs at 

 the height of 5,000 Icct ; and as this is beyond 



