ZOOLOGY. 7G3 



tion of sodic phosphate in distilled water, and tha objects experimented 

 upon were especially the cylindrical spermatozoa of BIypliemus pediculua, 

 and the amceboid cells of tlie intestinal epithelium of Stenostomum leu- 

 cops. The changes undergone were remarkable, and the amcebiform 

 cells of the Stenosfomum " became like flagellate infusoriaus, each with 

 a long, thick, rapidly moving process, beside which two or three cilia 

 were sometimes seen beating at the original much slower rate." These 

 experiments, supplimenting previous ones, especially those of Schneider, 

 Brass, and Kiihner, are '' interesting as illustrations of the readiness 

 with which cells may pass from one phase to another in response to en- 

 vironmental influences, and are thus full of suggestion in relation to 

 normal and pathological cell variation, aflbrding additional experimental 

 proof of the theory of a primitive cell-cycle, advanced by Geddes." 

 {Biol Gentralblatt, v. 5, pp. 259-262; J. R. M. 8., (4) v. 5, pp. 1014, 1015.) 



Colors of cold-loving animals. — The colors of Arctic and Alpine ani- 

 mals hav^e been commented upon by Prof. Lorenzo Camerano, of Turin. 

 His observations had reference especially to the Lepidoptera, and are 

 in brief as follows : 



(1) '^ A sensible mutation of color is observed in many mammals, now 

 more, now less distinctly, and generally it concurs with the change of 

 coat. Also not seldom in mammals strictly belonging to the Alps," as 

 in the chamois and the ibex, " the color changes very late in the summer 

 and in the winter, although the length, the thickness, and also the 

 coarseness of the hairs were very difi'erent." In other cases, as, for ex- 

 ample, in a Chinese deer (Cervus mandarinus), " the coat is, in summer, 

 light reddish -yellow, with many round wliite spots, while in winter it is 

 dark brown, and the round spots are less numerous and are light brown." 



(2) "As to the insects, it is observed that in Coleoptera the colors of 

 the Ali)ine species are brighter than those of the warmer plains," and 

 various species found at the greatest elevations of the Alps have often 

 lighter colors. 



(3) "A darker color " is observed " generally in the insects of the des- 

 erts," as in that of Sahara, while — " on the contrary, mammals in these 

 countries present in general a very light color." 



(4) " A very remarkable melanism is also observed in several maifimals 

 as well as the reptiles and beetles that are in little islands." 



(5) " In the reptiles and in the Alpine amphibia, we sometimes meet 

 with some cases of darkening, but the cases of a remarkable brighten- 

 ing are not very rare, as for example, in the tadpoles of Kana muta," a 

 kind of frog. 



(6) " A sensible difference is observed in the coloration between the 

 Arctic birds and the Antarctic. In the last, black is much more abun- 

 dant." 



The causes " that intervene to modify the color of animals are very 

 complicated; climate has amongst these a certain importance," but 



