COLOUR OP BODIES. 133 



There is a remarkable correspondence between the 

 geographical position of a region and the colours of its 

 plants and animals. Within the tropics, where 



11 The sun shines for ever unchangeably bright," 



the darkest green prevails over the leaves of plants ; the 

 flowers and fruits are tinctured with colours of the 

 deepest dye, whilst the plumage of the birds is of the 

 most variegated description and of the richest hues. In 

 the people also of these climes there is manifested a 

 desire for the most striking colours, and their dresses 

 have all a distinguishing character, not of shape merely, 

 but of chromatic arrangement. In the temperate 

 climates everything is of a more subdued variety : the 

 flowers are less bright of hue ; the prevailing tint of the 

 winged tribes is a russet brown ; and the dresses of the 

 inhabitants of these regions are of a sombre character. 

 In the colder portions of the earth there is but little 

 colour ; the flowers are generally white or yellow, and 

 the animals exhibit no other contrast than that which 

 white and black afford. A chromatic scale might be 

 formed, its maximum point being at the equator, and its 

 minimum at the poles.* , 



The influence of light on the colours of organized 



* In that admirable work, The Physical Atlas of Dr. Berghaus, 

 of which a very complete edition by Alexander Keith Johnstone 

 is published in this country, the following order of the distribution 

 of plants is given; 



Equatorial zone. 



2. Tree ferns and figs . Tropical zone. 



3. Myrtles and laurels . Sub-tropical zone. 



4. Evergreen trees . Warm temperate zone. 



5. European trees 

 0. Pines . 



7. Rhododendrons 



8. Alpine plants 



Cold temperate zone. 

 Sub-arctic zone. 

 Arctic zone. 

 Polar zone. 



Consult Humboldt, Essai sur la Geographic des Plantes, Paris, 

 1807: De Distributione Geographica Plantarum, Paris, 1817, 



