SHORT STUDIES OF BATEACHIANS. 335 



these colors, and so different in appearance will any half- 

 dozen of these animals prove to be, that it is difficult to 

 realize that they all belong to one and the same species. 



Of a series of six which I have long kept in confine- 

 ment (October 20th to January 29th) in a bottle, one 

 specimen was taken from a ledge of pale yellow clay. 

 The "peeper" was of the same color, the post-orbital 

 dark spot and light dorsal line being scarcely discernible. 

 The uniform yellow tint, however, was relieved by minute 

 round points of brilliant bronze. This individual, unlike 

 its companions, did not alter in color for several weeks. 

 The others were very changeable, and particularly so when 

 exposed to direct sunlight. While I noted several in- 

 stances to the contrary, my impression is that usually the 

 colors pale in direct sunlight, and deepen when the ani- 

 mals are in deep shade. This certainly is true of those I 

 have in confinement, and agrees with my experience in 

 searching for them during the past autumn. One fact 

 with reference to the subject of their color is not in ac- 

 cordance, perhaps, with the above, but should not go un- 

 recorded. The six individuals which I have in a bottle 

 will, at times, present very different tints, although all 

 are subjected to like surroundings. Of the six,- two or 

 three would be very dark, the others pale yellow. "With 

 some the dark triangular spot between the eyes would be 

 very distinct, in the case of the others it could not be 

 detected, even in outline. It must be remembered, how- 

 ever, that these individuals were kept in most unnatural 

 conditions, and though, at the time of this writing, they 

 had been without food for one hundred days, yet they 

 were as active as squirrels. 



Sensitive as these " peepers " are to changes of tem- 

 perature, it is by no means the first frost that drives them 



into their winter quarters. In the autumn of the past 

 22 



