is comparatively light. Sao Paulo is partly
covered by open _campos_, and these also serve to augment the maximum
temperature. In both of these states, however, the nights are cool,
and the mean annual temperature ranges from 68 deg. to 77 deg., the
northern districts of Minas Geraes being much warmer than the
southern. In Sao Paulo and southern Minas Geraes there are sometimes
frosts. In the Parahyba valley, which extends across the state of Rio
de Janeiro, the mean temperature is somewhat higher than it is in Sao
Paulo and Minas Geraes, and the nights are warmer, but the higher
valleys of the Serra do Mar enjoy a delightfully temperate climate.
The rainfall throughout this region is abundant, except in northern
Minas Geraes, where the climatic conditions are influenced to some
extent by the arid eastern plateau. South of Sao Paulo the tablelands
of Parana, Santa Catharina and Rio Grande do Sul enjoy a temperate
climate, with an abundant rainfall. There are occasional frosts, but
snow is never seen. Of Goyaz and Matto Grosso very little can be said.
The lower river valleys of the Tocantins-Araguaya, Xingu, Tapajos and
Paraguay are essentially tropical, their climate being hot and humid
like that of the Amazon. The higher valleys of the Parana and its
tributaries, and of the rivers which flow northward, are sub-tropical
in character, having high sun temperatures and cool nights. Above
these, the _chapadas_ lie open to the sun and wind and have a cool,
bracing atmosphere even where high sun temperatures prevail. The mean
annual temperature at Goyaz (city), according to a limited number of
observations, is about 77 deg. There is no absolutely dry season in
this part of the great Brazilian plateau, though the year is
customarily divided into a dry and wet season, the latter running
from September to April in Goyaz, and from November to April in Matto
Grosso. The prevailing winds are from the north-west in this region,
and westerly winds in the rainy season are usually accompanied by
rain.

_Fauna._--The indigenous fauna of Brazil is noteworthy not only for
the variety and number of its genera and species, but also for its
deficiency in the larger mammals. Of this, one of the best authorities
on the subject (H.W. Bates in _The Naturalist on the River Amazons_)
says: "Brazil, moreover, is throughout poor in terrestrial mammals,
and the species are of sm