598 RECOED OP CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



To revert to a former simile, we may safely say that the developmental 

 telescope of the individual is the same as that of the race, but with 

 the tubes shortened or shifted one upon another so that in many cases 

 their original order is no longer recognizable. The history of the 

 development, then, of any individual animal from the egg is an 

 abridgment of the history of formation in time of the race ; or, to 

 state the matter in as few words as possible, " development represents 

 descent." 



We conclude, therefore, that the ancestors of every animal have 

 successively exhibited structural conditions which are rej)resented in 

 a more or less modified form by the successive stages of development 

 of the individual. This is the only logical conclusion to which the 

 study of animal development leads. Modifying slightly the words of 

 Darwin, " to take any other view is to admit that the structure of 

 animals and the history of their development form a mere suare laid 

 to entrap our judgment." 



Colours of Animals.* — Dr. Camerano, in a brief notice of a larger 

 work to be published hereafter, divides colours into internal and 

 external. In animals the latter have of course the chief importance, 

 and he classifies them morphologically as Hypodermic and Epidermic, 

 and physiologically as (1) Useful, including those which are pro- 

 tective (allowing escape), attractive (to the prey of the animal), 

 deviatory, as the eye-like spots of some insects, which distract 

 attention from vital parts; (2) Indifferent; (3) Budimental, the 

 remains of a previous more extensive coloration ; (4) Accidental, as 

 melanism and albinism, arising out of special circumstances peculiar 

 to the individual, 



Passing from the consideration of the nature of some colours, he 

 reviews the condition of the different gi'oups of the animal kingdom 

 in their relation to colour, taking certain species from each as 

 examples. He distinguishes sexual coloration from that which 

 depends on the time of year, &c. 



The referees on the paper (Signers Cornalia and De Sanctis) 

 believe that the interpretations of the meaning of the intensity, 

 quality, or position of a colour need further examination in many 

 cases ; for though one type of coloration running through several 

 species many perhaps be exi^licable ; yet when several species agree- 

 ing in other respects — as volume, habitat, food — are foimd to differ in 

 the matter of colour, it is diiScult to account for the fact on utilitarian 

 principles. 



Organisms in Ice from Stagnant "Water.f — Mr. M. A. Veeder 

 has made microscopical investigations with regard to the purity of ice 

 gathered from stagnant water in canals and ponds. Only those frag- 

 ments were taken (from the interior of blocks) which appeared clean 

 and transparent to the unassisted eye. On melting them and 

 examining the water thus obtained with various powers up to 

 900 diameters, bits of vegetable tissues and confervoid growths are 



* ' Atti R. Acead. Lincei (Traubuut.),' iv. (1S60) p. loO. 

 t 'Am. Nat.,' xiv. (1880) p. 388. 



