468 BOTANICAL GEOGRAPHY. 



Jameson has described a botanical excursion made at 

 Chimborazo (Lond. Journ. of Bot., 1845, pp. 378-85). 



The aqueous vapours of the winds from the sea are precipitated upon the 

 west side of the western Cordillera of Ecuador, to which Chimborazo belongs. 

 Hence, simultaneously with the rainy season of the coast of Guayaquil, wet 

 weather prevails there from the end of December to the middle of May, 

 whilst on the eastern slope, and on the elevated surface of Biobamba, the 

 weather is fine. This contrast exerts an important influence upon the vege- 

 tation ; hence the numerous Calceolarias and the Alstra3inerias are confined to 

 the western slope ; hence also, in the upper regions, tall-stemmed woody 

 plants are isohypsilous with the shrubs of the central Cordillera. Between 

 13,000' and 14,000' Polylepis lanuginosa, one of the Sanguisorbese, forms a 

 distinct woody zone, regarding which Jameson remarks, that this tree will 

 grow at a higher level than any other upon the globe. Lower down, on the 

 road from Riobamba to the locality of Guaranda, which is situated on the 

 western side of the Chimborazo chain, there exists a meadow-region of the 

 same extent, until, at 12,000', woods of Aristotelia Maqui and Columettia 

 sericea are again met with, in which the underwood consists of shrubby 

 Synantheracea3, Rosaceae, Melastomacese, and Scrophulariaceae. The report 

 concludes with a list of the families of plants which were found to occur be- 

 tween 12,000' and 14,000'. Nearly 250 species observed there by Jameson 

 belong to about 50 families. Those containing most species are: 29 

 Synantheraceae, 15 Scrophulariaceae, 11 Graminaceae, 11 Rosaceae, 8 Legu- 

 minosae, 7 Gentianaceae, 7 Umbellifera3, and 7 Cruciferae; 14 Ferns and 13 

 Mosses; also the following characteristic alpine forms : Ranunculacese (5)> 

 Caryophyllaceae (4), Ericaceae (4), Vacciniee (3), Valerianacese (4), Orchidacese 

 (5), and Cyperacese (3). South American forms : Loasese (2), Passiflorese 

 (1), Escallonia (1), Columellia (1), Solanaceae (5), and Lobeliaceae (2). The 

 following tropical forms are also found at this level : Melastomaceae (4), 

 Homaliacese (1), Loranthaceae (2), and Bromeliaceae (2). 



Bridges has reported upon the first-fruits of his bota- 

 nical travels in Bolivia (ibid., p. 571). The first part of 

 the botanical division of a very important work upon 

 Chili, by Cl. Gay, has reached us (Historia Fisica y 

 Politica de Chile, por Cl. Gay. Botanica, torn, i, 

 pp. 1-104. Paris, 1845, 8vo). The diagnoses are in 

 Latin, the descriptions in Spanish. The prodromus, when 

 completed, will contain all the plants of Chili, and a select 

 number will be illustrated by copper-plate engravings ; 

 but it also includes garden plants. 



