RANGE OF THE ANTARCTIC FLORA. 2ig 



southern extremity is Cape Tres Montes. Here 

 occurs the widest breach in the continuity of the range, 

 as the Gulf of Penas is fully forty miles wide. To 

 the southward commences the long range of moun- 

 tainous islands that extend to the Straits of Magellan, 

 between which and the mainland he the famous 

 channels of Western Patagonia. It is worthy of note 

 that, corresponding to the elevation of this parallel 

 western range, the height of the main chain of the 

 Andes is notably diminished. Of the summits that 

 have hitherto been measured south of latitude 42" 

 only one — the Volcano de Ghana — attains to a height 

 of eight thousand feet, and there is reason to believe 

 that numerous passes of little more than half that 

 elevation connect the eastern and western slopes of 

 the chain. 



Another point of some interest is the northern ex- 

 tension of the so-called antarctic flora throughout the 

 whole of the western range, many of the characteristic 

 species being found on the Cordillera Pelada close to 

 Valdivia, which does not, I believe, much exceed three 

 thousand feet in height. It is true that a few antarctic 

 species have been found in the higher region of the 

 Andes as far north as the equator, just as a few 

 northern forms have travelled southward by way of 

 the Rocky Mountains and the highlands of Mexico 

 and Central America ; and Professor Fr. Philippi has 

 lately shown that many southern forms, and even a 

 few true antarctic types, extend to the hills of the 

 desert region of Northern Chili, where the constant 

 presence of fog supplies the necessary moisture.* 

 • See an interesting paper in Sht Journal of Botany for July, 1884. 



