COLOR IN ANIMALS 



'33 





odor, though not very offensive to us, is so to most insect- 

 eating creatures. Mr. Bates observed that, when set out to 

 dry, specimens of Heliconidce were less subject to the attacks 

 of vermin ; while both he and I noticed that they were not 

 attacked by insect-eating birds or dragon-flies, and that 

 their wings were not found in the forest paths among the 

 numerous wings of other butterflies whose bodies had been 

 devoured." 



Among the Amphibia the frogs are edible and are pro- 

 tectively colored. Toads are distasteful, but show a dull 

 color which is probably aggressive, aiding them in capturing 

 their insect prey (Plate 

 66, B}. The salaman- 

 ders, on the other hand, 

 are night feeders and 

 do not need to be ag- 

 gressively colored, and 

 we frequently find them 

 very conspicuously 

 spotted, since they are 

 inedible (Fig. 37). 



Lizards, almost without exception, show dull colors, or 

 colors that are in harmony with their environment, their col- 

 oration being both protective and aggressive (Plate 52). It 

 is, therefore, especially interesting to find that the only known 

 poisonous lizard, the Gila monster of our southwestern states, 

 is a conspicuously colored form, salmon-pink with broad 

 irregular black bands and blotches (Plate 72, A). 



The Mammalia as a rule show aggressive or protective 

 coloration in harmony with their surroundings ; the skunk, 

 however, which is so effectively protected by the foul-smelling 



FIG. 37. Salamander (Salamandra maculosa). 

 From Brehm's Thierleben, 



