ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 641 



Sauropsida making use of the more ventral part of the hyoid to com- 

 plete their chain of ossicles (extra columella), while the Mammalia 

 have pressed into this service the constituents of the arch in front — viz. 

 the quadrate and articular (incus and malleus). 



Colour Change in Anolis Carolinensis.* — F. Carlton has investigated 

 the colour changes in the skin of this lizard, a member of the family 

 Iguanidse. The animal is as a rule dark brown during the day and pea- 

 green at night. These extremes, with a series of transitional tints run- 

 ning through shades of brown and yellow to green, were the chief 

 colours regularly noticed. The brown state is produced by the outward 

 migration of pigment granules from conspicuous black bodies well 

 buried in the derma, and sending branching processes outwards toward 

 the epidermis {melanophores). The migration proceeds along the pro- 

 cesses and into their ultimate branches ; it occupies about four minutes, 

 and may be induced either by the mechanical stimulation of the skin, or 

 by the action of the sympathetic nerve centres. The melanophores are 

 not stimulated directly by light. The green state is produced by the 

 inward migration of the pigment granules of the melanophores, where- 

 by a reflecting " ochrophore" layer filling the spaces between the melano- 

 phore processes is exposed to light. The inward migration may be 

 induced by darkness, cessation of circulation, nicotine poisoning, in fact, 

 by any means which brings the melanophores into an unstimulated 

 state. 



Natural Immunity of Vipers.t — C. Phisalix finds experimental 

 reasons for maintaining that the natural immunity of vipers to their 

 own venom is to be attributed to the presence in the blood of a free anti- 

 toxin, which neutralises the poison in proportion to its entrance into the 

 general circulation. 



Reptiles and Amphibians of Asia Minor.! — Fr. "Werner gives an 

 account of the reptilian and amphibian fauna of this region. It includes 

 42 species of reptiles (3 Chelonians, 22 lizards, 1 chameleon, 17 snakes) 

 and 15 species of Amphibians (7 Urodela and 8 Anura). Six reptiles 

 (5 lizards and 1 snake) and 1 Amphibian must be regarded as quite 

 peculiar to Asia Minor, and an analysis of the distribution of the others 

 (in relation to the Caucasus, Syria, Persia, Egypt, etc.) confirms the view 

 that for many species Asia Minor must be considered as the headquarters 

 or centre of dispersal. 



Limbs of Amphiuma.§ — P. van Pee is of opinion that the two-toed 

 Amphiuma means is not a distinct species, but is a regressional form of 

 A. tridactylum. In two larvse of each kind he found that seven of the 

 eight limbs had only two elements in the carpus or tarsus, one radial or 

 tibial, the other primary basale + intermedium 4- ulnar or fibular. 

 On the peroneal border of the second cartilage there was a deep cleft, 

 nearly subdividing it into two. Of eleven anterior extremities of A. 

 means, six had three cartilages in carpus, four had two, and one had 



* Proc. Amer. Acad. Sci., xxxix. (1903) pp. 259-76 (1 pi.), 

 f Comptes Rendus, exxxviii. (1904) pp. 1459-61. 

 X SB. Akad. Wiss. Wien, cxi. (1902) pp. 1057-1121 (3 pis.). 

 § Anat. Anzeig., xxiv. (1904) pp. 476-82. 



