America, the western continent including North and South America and adjacent islands. The name was applied originally to the eastern part of Brazil by reason of a book of travels written by the Florentine navigator, Amerigo Vespucci. In 1541 Mercator's map extended the name to the entire western world. By a peculiar shift again, the term is now applied, in a narrow and incorrect sense, to the United States by way of distinction from Canada, Mexico, and the countries of South America. GEOLOGY. Roughly speaking, America consists of two triangular land masses joined by a third known as Central America. There is a theory, probably fanciful, that in a remote geologic age the western continent was torn away from the eastern by a convulsion of nature and that the Atlantic Ocean now fills the chasm between. Whether well advised or not, the theory is useful to call attention to the nearly uniform width of the Atlantic when measured on east and west lines; and to the fact that, were the continents brought together, Africa would fit into the Caribbean region, Brazil would fill the Gulf of Guinea, and Labrador would approach the British Isles. The islands now in the way of such a joining are of recent, chiefly volcanic, origin. Though called the New World, America is geologically an old continent. The North American highlands, including Labrador, the Adirondacks, and the Great Lake region, northward to Hudson Bay, are older than any portion of Europe. The rocks about the head of Lake Superior are among the oldest in the world. The eastern highlands of South America are also of great antiquity. TOPOGRAPHY. In many respects the physical features of North and South America are alike. The northeastern highlands have been mentioned. The major mountain chain of each American grand division runs north and south along the western border; the Andes very near the ocean, the Rockies far enough from the coast to permit room for lower ranges and large areas of valuable territory. The Appalachians and the mountains of Brazil complete the comparison. As to rivers and their plains, the La Plata corresponds to the Mississippi; the Amazon to the St. Lawrence; the Orinoco to the Red River of the North and the Saskatchewan, and the Magdalena to the Mackenzie; but here the parallel stops. South America has no land mass corresponding to Alaska, no river answering to the mighty Yukon. The North American triangle is the larger. If we add the West Indies and Central America, its area is approximately 8,700,000 square miles, while that of South America is reckoned at 7,300,000, a total area of 16,000,000 square miles for the continent, exclusive of Greenland. It is somewhat less than a third of all land areas of the world combined. The student cannot fail to note that the broken and irregular coasts of northern and of eastern North America resemble in this respect the northern and western coasts of Europe; and that South America and Africa resemble each other in regularity of outline. The greater part of South America lies in the torrid zone. The greater part of North America lies in a temperate zone, greatly to the advantage of the North American countries. FLORA AND FAUNA. In its plants and animals North America is closely related to Northern Asia and Europe; South America has a peculiar fauna and flora of its own. In respect to plants and animals Central America and the West Indies resemble South America. The North American animals of the deer, cat, and dog families are quite like those of north Asia and Europe. In the case of rats, mice, squirrels, marmots, and a long list of furbearing animals, as the beaver, marten, and otters, the similarity is close, and many native animals are apparently identical. The same remark applies to fishes, as pike, trout, salmon; to birds and insects without number, and even to serpents. The opossum may be mentioned as a strictly North American animal. In South America, on the contrary, including Central America and the West Indies, as stated, the animals are quite distinct from their Old World relatives. There are a few native animals also found elsewhere. The numerous monkeys and parrots of the South American forests are peculiar to the region. The sloth, armadillo, ant-eater, tapir, llama, capybara, guinea pig, boa, and anaconda are as peculiar to South America as the zebra and the hippopotamus are to Africa. Many humming birds, flycatchers, pigeons, goatsuckers, wading birds, the rhea, and others, in fact the greater part of 3,000 species, are known only to the South American region. It is the egg collector's paradise. In fishes, too, Agassiz found the waters rich. Sturgeon and perches are entirely wanting, but he found over a thousand new species in the waters of the Amazon alone. Between the border of the Arctic Ocean and Patagonia there is room for a variety of plant regions that we cannot take space to describe in full. The sharpest contrasts are found within the tropics where differences in moisture and elevation produce corresponding differences in vegetation. Within a few degrees of the equator are found the lofty forests of the Amazon, in which ordinary trees are but underbrush; the grassy plains of the llanos of the Orinoco; the upland fertile valleys of the Andes; the region of eternal ice and snow; volcanoes under the equator itself, and barren deserts on the Pacific coast. No greater contrast is possible and many interesting parallels may be drawn. The frozen tundras of the Arctic coast, with moss, shrub, and saxifrage, correspond in a way to the barren rocks of Patagonia; the Great Plains to the cattle region of Argentina; the cereal region of the Mississippi Valley to that of the La Plata; Mexico to the uplands of Bolivia and Peru; while the West Indies have points in common with the coffee country of Brazil and with the banana region of Central America. See articles on the various countries, rivers, cities, minerals, animals, plants, etc.