26 HORN EXPEDITION — NARRATIVE. 



deceived hy colour lu.ukiui^s, and in sonic cases, as, for example, the ljrii;lit red 

 tail of Ableplianis ruficaiidatiis, the colour is a decided help. 



It is, of course, possiljle that the red tail luay be easily seen and pounced upon 

 by an enemy, who secures the tail but loses the body, but it is, on the other hand, 

 difficult to understand what particular advantage the possession of a conspicuous 

 ])art of the body is as compared with the advantage to be gained from a general 

 inconspicuous colouration of the whole body. 



Then too, as in the case especially of E^eniia ivliitii, there is a very great 

 range in colour amongst specimens found in the same district as they may vary 

 from a dull yellow-brown with strong black markings to a bright brick-red with 

 faint dark markings — -a variation which has nothing to do with their surroundings. 



In the case of some of tin; beetles, as, for example, many of the grey Curculios, 

 which lie quiet in the cracks of bark, the colour of which they exactly assume, it is 

 certainly not an easy matter to always determine at tii'st sight whether you see a 

 beeth^ or a bit of bark, but then, supposing these fall a prey to such an animal as 

 a lizard, the latter climbing a tree trunk, or a bird doing the same, will probably 

 be guided ijuite as much Ijy the sense of smell as Ijy that of sight. 



It would not, of course, be a difficult matter, so far as the.se Ceutr'al 

 x\ustralian animals are concerned, to gather a series during the dry season and 

 place them amongst sand and stones and withered herbage as an illustration of 

 protective colouration, but then it would be only right and equally instructive to 

 take identically the same series during the wet season and place them amongst 

 their surroundings as an instance (jf the general absence of any special protective 

 coloui'ation. 



I have already pointed out however, that the frog, Cliirokptes plalyceplialus, 

 does, without doubt, a,t dillcrent seasons assume a colouration which is in general 

 accord with its surroundings ; but whilst this must be admitted to be the case, 

 there are other considerations which must be taken into account. At first sight 

 the head of a Chiroleptes looks very much like a floating Nardoo leaf, but a veiy 

 small amount of exijcrience enables you to distinguish between the two, and, in 

 addition to this, the frogs are in much more danger from their enemies on land 

 than in water. Now, the slightest rustle near water makes them disappear at 

 once, ami on land, where they are more exposed, their colouration might protect 

 them if it were not for their habit of hopping about the moment you approach 

 them. Then, again, in the case of the small and very abundant frog, Hyla rubella^ 

 there is no such marked seasonal change in colour, the frogs always remaining a 



