Page:Aspects of nature in different lands and different climates; with scientific elucidations (IA b29329668 0002).pdf/160

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  • [Footnote: Neottia, Cranichis, and most of the Habenarias. We have

also found both forms growing as alpine plants on the slopes of the chain of the Andes of New Granada and Quito: of the parasitical Orchideæ (Epidendreæ), Masdevallia uniflora (at 9600 French, or about 10230 English feet); Cyrtochilum flexuosum (at 9480 French, or about 10100 English feet); and Dendrobium aggregatum (8900 French, or about 9480 English feet): and of the terrestrial Orchideæ, the Altensteinia paleacea, near Lloa Chiquito, at the foot of the Volcano of Pichincha. Claude Gay thinks that the Orchideæ said to have been seen growing on trees in the Island of Juan Fernandez, and even in Chiloe, were probably in reality only parasitical Pourretias, which extend at least as far south as 40° S. lat. In New Zealand we find that the tropical form of Orchideæ hanging from trees extends even to 45° S. lat. The Orchideæ of Auckland's and Campbell's Islands, however (Chiloglottis, Thelymitra, and Acianthus), grow on the ground in moss. In the animal kingdom, one tropical form at least advances much farther to the south. In Macquarie Island, in lat. 54° 39´, nearer to the South Pole therefore than Dantsic is to the North Pole, there is a native parrot. (See also the section Orchideæ in my work de Distrib. geogr. Plant., pp. 241-247.)]