OTHER CHARMING FEATURES 25 



Thus our wood-frog's coat looks as if it were crossed 

 with twigs and plant stems and blotched with moss 

 and leaves ; the tree- toads are greenish or gray like 

 leaves or Hcliens ; and yet the pattern of these colors 

 is pretty. In some of these, their under parts only 

 may be beautifully orange or golden — often marbled, 

 etc. ; and as they swim above their mates these beauty 

 spots may be ravishingly displayed. 



Still others, which are active or can escape their 

 foes in other ways, are gorgeously brilliant on the 

 back and upper sides of the legs. This does not al- 

 ways expose them, for in the Tropics the tree-toads 

 are said to be colored like the blossoms and fruits 

 on the trees. Some of the salamanders, which can 

 escape into the water or otherwise hide, are brightly 

 striped — even rivaling the snakes in green and gold. 

 Among many there is quite a tendency to be spotted 

 on the sides in the regular '• polka-dotted " way. 



In dangerous creatures which are not liable to be 

 attacked, there is often great brilliancy — perhaps be- 

 cause beauty is always desirable, and they can afford 

 it. But a great naturalist has supposed that this 

 beauty is a warning to the enemy — a warning which 

 is, however, purely for the warner's benefit. Thus 

 in South America there is a little frog that is con- 

 spicuously colored, but it has a very acrid skin-secre- 

 tion, which keeps ducks and other things from eating 

 it. It hops abroad fearlessly in daylight, and flaunts 

 its gaudy colors defiantly. The horned frog (see Fig. 

 10) (not horned toad) is also brilliant with green and 

 gold, and it fights and poisons. 



