4 
Messrs. Sclater and Salvin on the 
imported from the same country, has lately employed collect¬ 
ors * in several parts of the republic, more particularly at Sa- 
lama, Cajabon, and other places in the Vera Paz; and it is to his 
exertions that science is indebted for the knowledge of the ap¬ 
propriately named Cotinga amabilis, for additional specimens of 
the wonderful Oreophasis derbianus, and many other ornitholo¬ 
gical rarities. 
Salvin, from whose personal observation the greater part of 
our notes are derived, reached Belize in the middle of December 
1857. After a few days’ stay, he proceeded down the coast to 
Ysabal, on the inland lake called the Golfo Dulce, and thence by 
easy stages up to the city of Guatemala, collecting by the way 
when the opportunity presented itself. Duenas, about thirty 
miles south of the capital, situated nearly between the two vol¬ 
canos of Agua and Fuego, was his head-quarters during his six 
months’ residence in the country; but he also made two excur¬ 
sions towards the Pacific coast, and one to the lake of Atitlan in 
the Altos of Guatemala. Leaving the country towards the end 
of June last, he returned home by the Pacific coasting steamer 
and Panama. 
The part of Central America which we are now speaking of, 
being in fact a continuation of Mexico, partakes of much of the 
same general physical contour, and embraces three distinct 
faunas. The first is that of the Atlantic coast-region, or tierra 
caliente, bordering the Caribbean Sea. This varies greatly in 
breadth, extending nearly over the whole of the northern por¬ 
tion of the peninsula of Yucatan, but in other places being 
confined within narrow limits. It may be held to embrace all 
the eastern slope of the watershed up to the height of 4000 feet. 
Corresponding to this on the other side is the Pacific coast- 
region, also a tierra caliente , extending to about the same height 
above the sea-level. It differs, however, in being of a uniform 
narrow width of not more than 50 miles, and the descent to it 
from the table-land is abrupt, and is well defined by the volca¬ 
nic chain which borders the western limit of the table-land. In 
these tw T o coast-regions occur nearly all the tropical forms which 
* We regret to hear by late accounts of the death of one of the most 
active of these—Rivera Paz, whose sevices it will be difficult to replace. 
