Page:Aspects of nature in different lands and different climates; with scientific elucidations (IA b29329668 0002).pdf/353

 Panama.—Communication by canal or railroad across the Isthmus of Panama discussed, ii. 319.

Paramo, a mountainous region in South America so called, i. 105; its climate and vegetation, i. 105, ii. 269.

Pastoral life almost unknown to the original inhabitants of America, i. 13.

Plants, physiognomy of, essentially distinct from a botanical arrangement, ii. 14, 17, 208; is the principal element in the characteristic aspect of different portions of the earth's surface, 16; about sixteen different forms of plants enumerated, which are chiefly concerned in determining the aspect of Nature, 18; Palms, 20; Plantains or Bananas, 21; Malvaceæ and Bombaceæ, 22; Mimosas, 22; Heaths, 28; Cactuses, 24; Orchideæ, 24; Casuarineæ, 25; Coniferæ, 25; Pothos, 26; Lianes, 26; Aloes, 27; Grasses, 27; Ferns, 28; Liliaceæ, 28; Willows, 28; Myrtaceæ, Melastomaceæ, and Laurineæ, 29; number of species contained in herbariums, 97; points of view in which the laws of the geographical distribution of plants may be regarded, 102; conjectures as to the whole number of species on the globe, 119; more than half the number of species are probably yet unknown, 121; heat developed during inflorescence, 175; general remarks on a physiognomic classification, 205.

Pothos, ii. 26, 175.

Quina (or fever bark), ii. 267.

Roads, old Peruvian, of the times of the Incas, ii. 270.

Rotiferæ, their revivification, ii. 45.

Sahara (African desert) composed of several detached basins, i. 114.

Sand-spouts a phenomenon characteristic of the Peruvian Sand Desert, i. 183.

Sargasso, Mar de; its geographical position discussed, i. 63; is the most remarkable assemblage of plants of a single species yet known on the globe, i. 64.

Schomburgk.—Travels of the brothers Robert and Richard Schomburgk important in many respects in regard to the physical geography of Guiana and the bordering countries, i. 178, 197, 236, 250.