CHAP. XIX. THE HIGHEST PLANTS. 351 



species 16,000 feet, above the level of the sea. Including all 

 Orders, forty-two species were taken at 16,000 feet or higher,^ and 

 almost all of these came either from Antisana or Chimborazo,^ 

 principally from the latter mountain, which even at the height 

 of 17,000 feet has a large amount of soil free from snow. 



One looks vainly amongst this flora for the brilliant clusters of 

 gem-like flowers which are so conspicuous near the snow-line of 

 the Alps. Yellows predominate in it, and they, like the other hues, 

 are wanting in purity. The highest species, with few exceptions, 

 were also found at considerably lower levels ; and the plants which 

 were taken at the greatest altitudes were generally solitary indi- 

 viduals, separated by long distances from their nearest relatives. 



ZOOLOGY. — The Zoological collections also which were made 

 in Ecuador were formed with the view of bringing together the 

 species which range highest ; but they were not so strictly limited 

 as the Botanical ones, and, if time and opportunity had permitted, 

 I should have endeavoured to have worked in a more comprehen- 

 sive manner. 



Annelida. — Earthworms were not numerous anywhere at 

 great elevations. The highest positions at which they were found 

 were in the neighbourhood of our camp on Cayambe (14,760 feet), 

 and upon the summit of Corazon (15,871 feet).^ 



1 So far as I am aware, nothing has hitherto been obtained from the height of 

 16,000 feet in Equatorial America, except the Lichens mentioned in the note at 

 the foot of p. 334, and, perhaps, the Moss to which reference is made at p. 76. 

 The Saxifrage which was discovered by Boussingault upon his attempt to ascend 

 Chimborazo in 1831, Humboldt says {Aspects of Nature^ vol. 2, pp. 35-6), was found 

 at 15,770 feet. "On the declivity of the Chimborazo the Saxifraga BoussingaulH, 

 described by Adolph Brongniart, grows beyond the limit of perpetual snow on loose 

 boulders of rock at 15,770 feet above the level of the sea, not at 17,000 as stated 

 in two estimable English journals. The Saxifrage discovered by Boussingault is 

 certainly, up to the present time, the highest known phaenogamous plant op the 

 surface of the earth." 



^ These will be found enumerated upon pages 199 and 333-4. 



8 Rhinodrilus Ecuadoriensis [see p. 112] will shortly be described by Dr. Benham 

 in the Annals and Magazine of Natural Hidory. 



