ANNOTATIONS AND ADDITIONS. 35 



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 Eaulhorn lays up a 

 store of the roots of phsenogamous alpine plants almost 

 under the snow. (Actes de la Societe Helvetique, 1843, 

 p. 324.) The beautiful Chinchilla, of which the bright and 

 silky fur is so much prized, is often supposed by Euro- 

 peans 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, Historia fisica y politica de Chile, Zoologia, 

 1844, p. 91.) 



While on our European Alps, Lecideas, Parmelias, and 

 Umbilicarias form only a few coloured patches on the rocks 

 which are not completely covered with snow, in the Andes, 

 beautiful flowering phsenogamous plants, first described by 

 us, live at elevations of thirteen to fourteen thousand feet 

 (13700 to nearly 15000 E.) We found there woolly 

 species of Culcitiuin and Espeletia (C. nivale, C. rufescens, 

 and C. reflexum, E. grandiflora, and E. argentea), Sida 

 pichinchensis, Ranunculus nubigenus, E/. Gusmanni with red 

 or orange-coloured blossoms, the small moss-like umbelliferous 

 plant Myrrhis andicola, and Fragosa arctioides. On the 

 declivity of the Chimborazo the Saxifraga boussingaulti, 

 described by Adolph Brongniart, grows beyond the limit of 

 perpetual snow on loose boulders of rock, at. 147 96 (15770 

 E.) feet above the level of the sea, not at 17000, as stated 



