INTEOPTrCTION. 
profile of the Andes, indicate the modifications to which these 
phenomena are subject from the influence of the elevation of 
the soil above the level of the sea. Each group of plants is 
foflmv fh th ° h r"- ht whicl ? naturo has assigned to it, and P we mav 
follow the prodigious variety of their forms from the region of 
an i < X ,0r03Ge - lt ferns , to those of the johannesia (chu- 
quiraga, Juss.), the gramineous plants, and lichens. These regions 
form the natural divisions of the vegetable empire ; and as per- 
petual raow is found m each climate at a determinate height 
so, m like manner the febrifuge species of the quinquina (cin- 
chona) have their fixed limits, which I have marked in the bota- 
meal chart belonging to this essay. 
V. Observations on Zoology and Comparative Anatomy, I have 
comprised ,n this work the history of the condor; experiments 
l™ of thT em^°, n Sy r° tUS - a ^ on the 
a ynx ot the crocodiles, the quadrumani, and birds of the 
opics ; the description of several new species of reptiles fishes 
birds, monkeys, and other mammalia but little known. Jf’ 
Cuvier has enriched this work with a very comprehensive treatise 
on the axolotl of the lake of Mexico, and on the genera nf 11,0 
Protei. That naturalist has also recognized two new species of 
mastodons and an elephant among the fossil bones of quadrupeds 
which we brought from North and South America. For th e des- 
to’ivr 0 ? atreifie c ? Ueoted b 7 M. Bonpland we are indebted 
wh , ose laboura have 80 much contributed to the 
progress of entomology m our times. The second volume of this 
work contains figures of the Mexican, Peruvian, and Aturian 
skulls which we have deposited in the Museum of Natural His- 
tory at Pans and respecting which Blumenbach has published ob- 
8er J5 tl< 2 18 “? tbe Decas q°inta Cranionim diversarum gentium ’ 
• V - 1 f ltlcay ess ?y on the kingdom of New Spain, with a vhv- 
need and geographwol Atlas, founded on astronomical observations 
and trigonometrical and barometrical measurements. This work 
based on numerous official memoirs, presents, in six diviZns 
considerations on the extent and natural appearance of Mexico” 
on the population, on the manners of the inhabitants their 
ancient civilization and the political division of their territory 
It embraces also the agriculture, the mineral riches the mT 
nufactures the commerce, the finances, and the military defence 
of that vast country. In treating these different subiects I have 
endeavoured to consider them under a general pointofview 
Lhi « dra r , a P araUel nofc °nly between New Spain the’ 
£ H 685 thG W 4 States of North America; 
lish N S P ain and the possessions of the Eng? 
situated in the $ e ^culture of the countrifs 
“ taa * ea ! tornd zonc Wlth that of the temperate cli- 
mates , and I have examined the quantity of colonial produce 
