495 



Supposing even what is probable, that the thi- 

 baudias, and the rhododendron of the Andes, or 

 befaria, exist in the paramo of Niquitao, and in 

 the Sierra de Merida, covered with eternal 

 snows, these plants would nevertheless want a 

 ridge sufficiently lofty and long for their mi- 

 gration toward the Silla of Caraccas. 



The more we study the distribution of orga- 

 nized beings on the globe, the more we are in- 

 clined, if not to abandon the ideas of migration, 

 at least to consider them as being hypotheses 

 not entirely satisfactory. The chain of the Andes 

 divides the whole of South America into two 

 unequal longitudinal parts. At the foot of this 

 chain, on the east and the west, we found a 

 great number of plants specifically the same. 

 The various passages of the Cordilleras no where 

 permit the vegetable productions of the warm 

 regions to proceed from the coasts of the Pacific 

 Ocean to the banks of the Amazon. When a 

 peak attains a great elevation, either in the 

 middle of very low mountains and plains, or in 

 the centre of an archipelago heaved up by volca- 

 nic fires, it's summit is covered with alpine 

 plants, many of which are again found at im- 

 mense distances on other mountains, that pos- 

 sess an analogous climate. Such are the ge- 

 neral phenomena of the distribution of plants, 

 which we cannot too strongly urge the natural 

 philosopher to study. When I combat by- 



