402 GEOGRAPHICAL BOTANY. 



to 200' in breadth. The main mass of the vegetation in 

 the savannah consists of scabrous, straggling Graminacea3 

 and Cyperacea3, from 3' to 4' in height, as Pariana cam- 

 pestris, Cliatospora capitata, Elionurus ciliaris, Sataria 

 composita, Mariscus Icevis, intermixed with prickly or 

 arborescent underwood of various kinds, as Curatella 

 Americana, Byrsonima, Plumieria, Leguminosse, Myrtacese, 

 some Synantheraceae, and Malvacea3. The marshy places 

 are denoted by Mauritia flexuosa, with Melastomas, 

 Scitamineaa, Polygaleas, and Byttneria scabra ; the surface 

 of the water itself, Pontederia and NymphaeaceaB. 



Poppig's illustrated work upon Tropical America is now 

 completed by the 7 10 decades of the third volume 

 (Lipsise, 1844, 4to). The 75th to 78th parts of Orbigny's 

 Travels have appeared. Klotzsch has commenced the publi- 

 cation of ' Contributions to the Flora of Tropical America,' 

 from the Museum of Berlin (Linnaaa, 1844), comprising 

 at present the vascular Cryptogamic plants and the Jun- 

 germannise, by C. Miiller. 



V. Tschudi's zoological work upon Peru contains, in 

 the introduction, an interesting division of the Peruvian 

 Andes, according to their climatal conditions and botanical 

 characters (Untersuchungen uber die Fauna Peruana, 

 Lief i. St. Gallen, 1844, 4to). The climatal regions of 

 Peru, the elevated surfaces and valleys of which are pro- 

 duced by the structure of the two Cordilleras, and are 

 not dependent upon the polar altitude, are, according to 

 Tschudi, as follows : 



1. Western slope (contains no woods). 



a. Coast region (0' 1500'). Mean temperature in 

 the hot season = 27 c. \ during the garua = 19- 75. A 

 band of sand, 1620 miles in length, and from 18 to 60 

 miles in breadth, extending across the rivers, which inter- 

 sect it many times, subdivides it into two principal forma- 

 tions ; for the banks of the river form oases of cultivation 

 in the Peruvian coast-steppe, the barren hilly surfaces of 

 which are covered with fine quicksand, and are devoid of 

 springs and, during the dry seasons, of vegetation. This 



