Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 2.33
The Río Chagres, Panama.
and termites. I was there during Christmas of 1963 with my wife, Shirley,
the Harvard paleobotanist Elso Barghoorn, and his secretary, Dorothy Os-
good. We were going to Davíd, a small town in western Panama noted for
its petrifi ed wood. Along the way Professor Barghoorn reminded us of the
many well-known benefi ts conferred by a Harvard education as opposed
to one, say, from Michigan. The posada at Davíd was built of fossil wood,
and in the courtyard there was a garden with eggshells on top of sticks
(fi g. 2.34). When Professor Barghoorn asked about this, the proprietor told
him that when a stranger like him looks at the fl owers, their glance is caught
by the eggshells, and this protects them from people who might have the
dreaded
ojo de malo
(the evil eye)—apparently, I reminded Barghoorn, one
of the lesser-known benefi ts conferred by a Harvard education.
SOUTH AMERICA
The fi rst impressions South America often makes on students of natural
history are its vast extent and its diversity—in culture, landscape, climates,
and biota (fi gs. 2.35-37). It covers about 18
10
6
km
2
, or 12 percent of the
Earth's surface, and extends over 8000 km through 70° of latitude. There
are approximately three hundred principal ethnic groups that have survived
not only the multiple waves of epidemic diseases brought through contact
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