Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 
27 
forest. While the former possessed little that was novel, the latter 
yielded acquaintances new to me, in group after group. The same 
peculiarity and high proportion of novelty characterized the flora 
of the paramo. Although Cerro Tatama has a cool zone flora, so 
much richer than that of Chaquiro, either upland possesses in equal 
sharpness of definition its own special world of life. Judging by 
the proportion of novelty in the groups of plants best known to the 
writer, most of the species existing there are yet unknown to man. 
I saw on Tatama open grassy slopes and rocky forested cliffs, 
while from a higher level there descended many waterfalls. Above, 
on the upper paramo, there must be much water,—a feature greatly 
in contrast with the waterless slopes of Chaquiro. My guide told 
of lakes and vast marshes, and of slopes covered with “fraile- 
jones.” Evidently there remains on the true summit of Cerro 
Tatama a vast world of life yet unknown, and the temptation to 
climb to it when so near was most severe. I left the small edge of 
this paramo seen by me reluctantly indeed, and with the resolve 
that this mountain must be visited again, in a more favorable 
month, and with more preparation. 
Great as must be the yet undiscovered treasures of Tatama, they 
can scarcely prove more interesting than those still waiting for our 
collecting on other isolated areas of highlands of the northern 
western Cordillera, or which will be found in such areas throughout 
the Andean mountain system. A careful comparative study of the 
floras of these highland areas, isolated in space and in life from 
one another, will help us to understand past mountain connections 
and to fill out our knowledge of the geologic history of the Andes. 
In the course of its prosecution such a study will bring to knowledge 
the existence of many forms of life at present unsuspected. 
With the collections from Tatama, I returned through Medellin 
to the coast, and sailed for the United States from Cartagena on 
October 3rd. Mr. Kill ip arrived soon after, bringing with him his 
plants from La Cumbre. Other specimens had been brought home 
by Dr. Hazen, and still others had been shipped from Cali in July. 
All our specimens have arrived safely, and the total collection, of 
over 7000 numbers or about 23000 specimens, has been already ap¬ 
portioned to the institutions especially concerned in the exploration. 
To those who aided us in Colombia, from the government 
which officially gave us every courtesy, to the many individuals 
