1882.] 
Notes. 
565 
same time, in cold and elevated localities in the mountains, 
the small, light-coloured, spring forms appear throughout the 
summer. 
In the discussion which followed Mr. Meldola pointed out that 
many species which are monomorphous in the north of Europe 
show an increasing tendency to vary as the summers are longer 
and hotter. 
At the same meeting there was read an elaborate account of 
the Coleoptera of Ceylon, by Mr. Lewis. The island has three 
distincft faunae, depending on altitude and on the presence or 
absence of jungle. The Coleoptera, even the Cicindelidae and 
Carabidae, haunt trees and plants, and, like almost all the local 
insedts, have undergone corresponding modifications. Very few 
beetles are found under stones, the protection of fragments of 
bark or moss being sufficient. There appear to be no Necro- 
phaga , all animal refuse being consumed by the ants. Lucanidae 
are scarce, the indigenous timber being too hard and dry to sup- 
port such large insects. Concerning Buprestidas and Longicornes 
nothing was stated. Dung-beetles are generally absent. Nor 
are there any peculiar endemic forms. Many of the smaller 
Geodephaga have unmistakable European affinities. Mr. Pascoe, 
in comment, suggested that Ceylon might be a region where the 
Palaeardtic and Indo-Malayan faunae meet, but in our present 
ignorance of the Micro-Coleoptera of India this is mere matter 
of conjecture. 
M. R. Zeiller (“ Comptes Rendus ”) has made an examination 
of the fossil carboniferous flora of Tonquin. The species found 
resolve themselves into two groups ; the one consisting of forms 
which have been long ago met with in Europe, whilst the other 
comprises specific types peculiar to India, Australia, and South 
Africa. It appears that in the carboniferous epoch there must 
have been two great and very distinct botanical regions, and the 
south of Asia marks their region of union. 
It is said of two eminent official scientists in England that 
the one fancies himself a physician and the other a meta- 
physician. 
According to Messrs. Liveing and Dewar (“ Proceedings of the 
Royal Society,” xxxiii., No. 219, p. 428) the spectra of metals 
become seriously modified when their vapours are mixed together. 
New lines or bands may appear, whilst others disappear. Hence 
the authors are of opinion that much remains to be done before 
it can be maintained that any of the solar lines are due to a non- 
terrestrial element. 
Herr E. Albert (“ Annalen der Physik ”) calls attention to the 
changes in the tone of coloured solutions produced by a decrease 
in the intensity of light. Blue-violet in diminishing light ap- 
pears violet, greenish blue becomes blue, greenish yellow turns 
green, pure greens remain unaffecfted. 
