SOME "COLD-BLOODED" LOVERS 171 



more ado, by depositing the precious germs upon the 

 ground. The display then is indeed to serve as an 

 aphrodisiac. For the continuation of the race now rests 

 entirely on the female. Any defect in the orderly work- 

 ing of her sexual appetite means the waste of the 

 spermatozoa and the failure to effect fertilization. We 

 cannot suppose that there is any realization of these facts, 

 or any deliberate action on her part, but rather that she 

 derives pleasurable feelings from the necessary passage of 

 the spermatophore, which, probably, she recognizes by its 

 smell. 



The statement that the Frogs and their kind dispense 

 with a display requires some qualification. For in the 

 first place they, like their tailed relatives the Newts, 

 develop secondary sexual characters, but these are of 

 a quite peculiar kind. Among the Newt tribe, as has 

 been mentioned, these characters take the form of frills 

 and crests and vivid colours. They are intended to 

 stimulate through the sense of sight, and arouse emotion, 

 as a city is beflagged to welcome those it may delight 

 to honour. The Frog tribe appeal to the musical sense, 

 even though that music be of a barbaric kind. But, it 

 would seem, when once the errant females have been 

 drawn to the spot chosen by the males, no further 

 aphrodisiac is used, the male simply seizing upon the 

 female nearest at hand and, having once embraced her, 

 she is not released again until the eggs have been extruded 

 and fertilized. To maintain his hold, the forearm is often 

 excessively muscular, while one or more of the fingers 

 may be armed with pads. In some cases, as with the 

 Himalayan Rana liebigi, the inner side of the arm and 

 each side of the breast are studded with small conical 

 spines. But the absence of ornament in these cases, as 



