34 Geological Extinction and [January, 
height of 1300 feet; it is hardly possible to doubt that this great 
elevation has been effected by successive small uprisings, such as 
that which accompanied or caused the earthquake of this year, 
and likewise by an insensibly slow rise, which is certainly in pro- 
gress on some parts of this coast.” Darwin adds: “Two years 
and three-quarters afterwards, Valdivia and Chiloe were again 
shaken, more violently than on the 2oth [Feb. 20, 1835], and an 
island in the Chonos archipelago was permanently elevated more 
than eight feet.” 
As observed by Mr. A. Agassiz, there are sea corals of species 
still living in the Pacific ocean adjacent, attached to the surface 
of interstices in the rocks at Tilibiche, Peru, at a point about 
2900 feet above'the level of the sea. This locality is situated on 
a ridge parallel to the coast, there being a pampa or basin be- 
tween this ridge and. the coast range. This basin was probably 
the bottom of an internal sea which afterwards became a salt 
lake, and was eventually drained into the Pacific by the breaking 
through of the mountain barriers. The extensive saline ba- 
sins on the western slope of the Andes, at an elevation of over 
7000 feet, may have been former ocean bottoms. In his Andes 
and the Amazon, Orton says: “ President Loomis of Lewisburg 
University, Pa., informs the writer that in 1853, after nearly a 
day’s ride from Iquique, he came to a former sea-beach. It fur- 
nished abundant specimens of Patellz and other shells, still per- 
fect, and identical with others that I had that morning obtained at , 
Iquique with the living animal inhabiting them. This beach is _ 
elevated 2500 feet above the Pacific.” (p. 116.) Also, the pres- E 
ence of a species of Amphipod Crustacean belonging to “a truly 
marine family,” dredged by M. Agassiz in Lake Titicaca at a _ 
depth of sixty-six fathoms, indicates that this lake may be a rem ~ 
nant of the Pacific ocean ; though it now stands at an elevation 
of 12,500 feet above the sea. 
These facts tend to prove that the Andean plateau during the 
Quaternary period was paroxysmally elevated into the air some _ 
12,000 feet. Let us now look at the possible results of such an 
enormous upheaval on the plants and animals of this region. Be- 4 
fore and at the time this movement began, when the land was ~ 
12,000 feet lower than now, the Atlantic trade winds which now 
cross Brazil, impinge upon the Andes and drop their moisture on 
the eastern slopes alone, then favored as well the western slopes — 
s Fa n 
Sap eae E EO E 
Sees 
