610 General Notes. [ June, 
colored than those which live under stones or on a sandy bottom; 
similarly land animals that inhabit forests are on the whole more 
conspicuous for their bright coloration than animals which live in 
deserts. There is no relation between the color of an animal and 
its coloration, 
In very dry climates the colors appear to be darker, while the 
reverse is the case in damp climates. The various zoological 
regions of the earth are characterized by a certain dominant range 
of color in their inhabitants ; grey, white, yellow and black char- 
acterize the animals of the palzarctic region; yellow and brown 
those of the Ethiopian; green and red are the prevailing tints of 
the neotropical; red and yellow, of the Indian region. Australia 
is distinguished from the rest by the great abundance of black 
animals, 
In a given group of animals the larger species are usually more 
uniformly colored than the smaller. Sexual colors bear a general 
correspondence to the development of the animal ; the males are 
mostly more brilliantly colored; in many cases, however, where 
the females are larger and stronger than the males, the former 
show the more brilliant coloration. Young animals are often 
differently colored to the adults, their colors are generally more 
like those of the adult female. The young of several species that 
are most dissimiliar in their colors, when adult are often hardly 
distinguishable in this respect—/ournal of the Royal Microscopical 
ety, February, 1885. 
LIFE-HISTORY OF STENTOR CÆRULEUS.— Professor G. W. Worces- 
ter gives a detailed description of the development and life-history 
of Stentor ceruleus, which can hardly be satisfactorily abstracted. 
When first observed it appeared a motionless, intensely blue mass, 
containing what seemed to be a row of internal vacuoles, which 
later proved to be the moniliform endoplast of the mature infuso- 
rian. A larger vacuole was observed that subsequently became 
the mouth. The mass slowly changed its form, developing cilia 
at each extremity. The cilia eventually disappeared from one 
; the shape was constantly varied, and in a little less than two 
hours it had put on the mature form, and was swimming very 
a rapidly. Conjugation with another specimen was then observed, 
each fastening itself by its posterior end to some object, their 
backs meeting, when they would roll over each other till their 
anterior extremities met. Conjugation lasted some moments 
when the : cimens separated and swam away. The individual 
