ANNOTATIONS LND ADDITIONS. 149 



part of the Andes which is situated between the tropics, I 

 have seen species of Cactus (C. sepium, C. chlorocarpus, 

 C. bonplandii) growing on elevated plains nine or ten 

 thousand (French) feet (about 9590 and 10660 English) 

 above the level of the sea ; but a still more alpine character 

 is shewn in latitudes belonging to the temperate zone, in 

 Chili, by the Opuntia ovallei, which has yellow flowers and 

 a creeping stem. The upper and lower limits beyond which 

 this plant does not extend have been accurately determined 

 by barometric measurement by the learned botanist Claude 

 Gay : it has never been found lower than 6330 French 

 (6746 English) feet, and it reaches and even passes the 

 limits of perpetual snow, having been found on uncovered 

 masses of rock rising from amongst the snows. The last 

 small plants were collected on spots situated 12820 French 

 (13663 English) feet above the level of the sea. (Claudio 

 Gay, Flora Chilensis, 1848, p. 30.) Some species of 

 Echino-cactus are also true alpine plants in Chili. A 

 counterpart to the fine -haired Cactus senilis is found in 

 the thick-wooled Cereus lanatus, called by the natives Piscol, 

 which has handsome red fruit. We found it in Peru, near 

 Guancabamba, when on our journey to the Amazons river. 

 The dimensions of the different kinds of Cactacese (a group 

 on which the Prince of Salm-Dyck has been the first to 

 throw great light) offer great variety and contrasts. 

 Echinocactus wislizeni, which is 4 feet high and 7 feet in 

 circumference (4 feet 3 inches and 7 feet 5 inches English), 

 is still only the third in size, being surpassed by E. ingens 



