356 



COLOMBO 



COLONIAL ANIMALS 



Merida (Vienna, 1888) contains some notes on eastern 

 Santander. See also the Description published by the 

 Colombian government in 1887, with the supplement 

 on the trade with Spain, published at Barcelona in 

 1888 ; F. I '>ianconi's Notice Descriptive et Carte Com- 

 merciale ( Paris, 1888 ) ; and papers by F. A. A. Simons 

 (1879, '81, '85) and R. B. White (1883) in the Proceed- 

 ings of the Royal Geographical Society. 



Colombo, the capital of Ceylon, is situated 

 on the western side of the island. Since the con- 

 struction of the great breakwater begun in 1875 

 (see BREAKWATER), the harbour has been greatly 

 improved, and commerce has largely increased ; 

 Colombo having superseded Galle as a Coaling 

 Station (q.v. ) for large steamers. It contains the 

 government offices, is the seat of an Anglican 

 bishop, and is an important centre of missionary 

 enterprise. Among the chief buildings are the 

 government house, court-house, town-hall, asylum, 

 St Thomas's College, and Wesley College. The 

 fortifications of Colombo were constructed by the 

 Dutch. Colpetty, a beautiful suburb, shaded by 

 groves of the cocoa-nut palm, is a favourite retreat. 

 The humble, mud -constructed dwellings of the 

 Dutch, Portuguese, Eurasians, Singhalese, Tamils, 

 Moors, and Malays are outside the city walls. 

 The pettah or Black Town, the only ancient 

 quarter, extends to the river Kalany-ganga. Pop. 

 (1871) 100,238; (1891) 126,926. Colombo is con- 

 nected with Kandy by railway. The early name 

 of Colombo, Kalan-totta, the ' Kalany Ferry,' the 

 Moors corrupted into Kalambu, and by this desig- 

 nation it was described by Ibn Batuta about 1340 

 A.D. as the finest city of Serendib. The Portu- 

 guese, who fortified it 1517 A.D., wrote the name 

 Colombo, in honour of Christopher Columbus. The 

 Dutch succeeded to the Portuguese, and the British 

 took Colombo, 16th February 1796. See CEYLON. 



Colon, a city of Cuba, 52 miles direct SE. by 

 E. of Matanzas, with which it is connected by rail. 

 It is in the centre of the sugar district, and has 

 several refineries. Pop. (1899) 7175. For Colon, 

 Colombia, see ASPINWALL. 



Colon, that portion of the large intestine be- 

 tween the Caecum (q.v.) and the rectum. See 

 DIGESTION. 



Colonel (from the Italian colonello, the 'leader 

 of a column ' ) is the grade of officer next below that 

 of general. As designating the chief officer of an 

 English regiment, it superseded in 1588 the title 

 of captain, in use up to that time. In the British 

 army, the lieutenant-colonel is commander of the 

 infantry battalion or cavalry regiment, the office of 

 regimental colonel being a sinecure. Regimental 

 colonels are general officers, who have had a 

 regiment 'given to them,' as it is called, as a 

 reward for long service, and virtually as a retire- 

 ment. The pay, except in the Guards ( where it is 

 higher), is 1000 a year. In 1888 it was decided 

 to discontinue these appointments as soon as those 

 who have a vested right to succeed to them have 

 been satisfied, and it has been decided that no 

 officer shall obtain the rank of colonel except by 

 Brevet (q.v.) for distinguished conduct, or on being 

 selected for certain appointments carrying with 

 them that rank ; such as aide-de-camp to the 

 sovereign, assistant-adjutant general, and com- 

 mander of a regimental district. See COMMIS- 

 SIONS (.ARMY). In the German, Austrian, and 

 Russian armies, where the regiments are very 

 large, the colonelcies are mostly honorary posts, 

 held by royal and other distinguished personages. 



Colonia, a department of Uruguay, on the 

 Plata, below the Uruguay River. The uplands are 

 barren, but in the fertile valleys and plains are 

 numerous European colonies, engaged in agriculture 



in. ; pop. (1895) 

 Sacramento, on 



ia jjj ui upetiii uuiumes, eiiyag 

 and stock-raising. Area, 2185 sq. 

 35,209. The capital, Colonia del 



the Plata, about 100 miles above Monte Video, has 

 a good harbour, a dock for vessels of 1000 tons, 

 ruined fortifications, and some 1500 inhabitants. 



Colonial Animals, organisms which cannot be 

 fairly regarded as unities, but consist of numerous 

 more or less similar individuals united in a common 

 life. Among the usually single-celled simplest 

 animals or Protozoa, loose colonies not unfrequently 

 occur, and are of not a little importance as sugges- 

 tions of the bridge between the single-celled and 

 many-celled animals. Such colonies arise when the 

 original cell, instead of reproducing discontinuously, 

 retains its daughter-cells in union with itself or 

 with one another, just like the egg-cell of a higher 

 animal. By sacrifice of individuality at the epoch 

 of reproduction, a higher unity is formed. In 

 the same way a simple cup-shaped sponge, by 

 continuous budding, forms a colony of similar 

 forms, which may possess more or less distinct 

 individuality. The common fresh-water Hydra, to 

 mount a step higher, buds off daughter Hydrce, 

 which remain for a while connected with the 

 parent organism, and make it temporarily colonial. 

 This becomes constant in the myriad colonies of 

 hydra-like forms which are known as Zoophytes, or 

 Hydroids (q.v.). The same formation of colonies 

 is well illustrated in the higher polyps of the sea- 

 anemone type, where in dead-men's fingers and 

 in most corals, compound or colonial organisms 

 are beautifully illustrated. Some jellyfish-like or 

 medusoid types also become compound, and lead 

 on to the order Siphonophora, where, as in the 

 Portuguese man-of-war (Physalia] or in Velella, 

 the occurrence of compound forms is a constant 

 character. But in this last case a further step has 

 been made, for the individuals not only share a 

 common nutritive life, but are bound together in a 

 more intimate way into a true unity of a higher 

 order. Among simple worm-like forms, chains of 

 individuals are occasionally formed, as in Catenula, 

 and these point to the probable origin of the higher 

 or segmented worms which consist of a series of 

 similar 'joints.' Even among the higher worms, 

 temporary compound forms occasionally occur, as 

 in the fresh-water Nais or the marine Syllis. The 

 Polyzoa afford good illustration of colonial life as 

 an almost constant character of a class. Finally, 

 passing beyond the limit of invertebrate animals, 

 we find the last examples of true colonial organisms 

 in the Ascidians (q.v.) or Tunicata. The occa- 

 sional development of double or multiple forms 

 from a single ovum is among higher animals the 

 only suggestion of compound organisms. 



From the above illustrations a few general con- 

 clusions may be drawn. The process of asexual 

 budding, which leads to the formation of compound 

 organisms, is commonest in relatively passive vege- 

 tative animals, like sponges, hydroids, corals, 

 polyzoa, and ascidians, and is an expression of their 

 general physiological constitution. When the colo- 

 nial organism is free-living, as in Siphonophora 

 and some Tunicata, the individual members are 

 more closely knit together, and the colony is more 

 perfectly integrated. As above suggested, some 

 colonial forms are of importance as illustrating in 

 loose union an order of individuality, which in 

 higher types becomes more firmly unified. We 

 first find loose ' aggregates ; ' at a higher level 

 these become 'integrated.' The loose colonies 

 of some medusoid types are thus succeeded by 

 more perfectly integrated forms in the Siphono- 

 phora. Finally, colonial organisms are of the 

 highest physiological interest in illustrating divi- 

 sion of labour. In a compound organism the 

 internal and external conditions of life are not uni- 

 form for all the members ; certain 'persons,' as the 

 individuals are technically called, exhibit the pre- 

 dominance of one function, and others of another; 



