Q8 THE WOKLD OF LIFE 



The Flora of Lagoa Santa 



There is, however, one small area in the Campos of Brazil 

 in about 20° S. lat. and 2700 feet above the sea-level, which 

 has been thoroughly explored botanically bv a Danish botanist, 

 Professor Eug. Warming, who lived there for three years with 

 his fellow-countrvman Dr. Lnnd, who first studied the fossil 

 vertebrates in the caves of the district. This was in 1SG3-66; 

 and after studying his collections for twenty-five years with the 

 assistance of many other botanists he published in 1892 a 

 quarto volume giving a most careful account of the vegetation 

 in all its aspects, with numerous very characteristic illustra- 

 tions, both of individual plants and of scenery, forming one 

 of the most interesting botanical works I have met with. Un- 

 fortunately it is printed in Danish, but a good abstract (about 

 thirty pages) in French renders it accessible to a much larger 

 body of readers. 



This flora is strictly limited to an area of sixty-six square 

 miles, so that every part of it could be easily explored on foot, 

 and again and again visited as different species came into 

 flower or ripened their fruit. The surface is undulating and 

 in parts hilly, with a lake, a river, some low rocky hills, 

 marshes, and numerous deeply eroded ravines and valleys, often 

 with perpendicular rocky sides, where there is perpetual mois- 

 ture and a rich forest-vegetation. But everywhere else is for 

 half the year arid and sun-baked, covered with scattered decid- 

 uous trees and shrubs, and during the rains producing a fairly 

 rich herbaceous vegetation. It is, in fact, a good example 

 of the campos that occupy such a large portion of the interior 

 of Brazil, though perhaps above the average in productiveness. 



An open country such as this is, of course, much easier to 

 examine thoroughly than a continuous forest, which, though 

 actually richer, calls for a much longer period of exploration 

 before all its riches can be discovered. But though the coun- 

 try is so open, with trees and shrubs spread over it in a park- 

 like manner, Mr. Warming tells us that trees of the same spe- 



