20 MARVELS OF THE ANIMAL WORLD 



suggests a reasoning power that connects the action 

 with the hoped-for result. 



It is difScult to define the limits which separate 

 instinct from reasoning power, but we know that 

 the former is inborn and inherited, wliereas mental 

 capabilities are the result of gradual develop- 

 ment. 



If the habit of feigning death were confined 

 merely to the higher types of animals, we might be 

 excused for assuming that the practice was largely 

 governed by reasoning power ; but as certain 

 species of the lower vertebrates, such as toads, 

 frogs and snakes, indulge in that means of self- 

 protection, it is impossible to regard their habits 

 as arising from mental ability ; for not even the 

 most pronounced animal-lover could claim for such 

 creatures a very high degree of brain power. 



Among the more remarkable of the batrachians 

 which sham death in order to deceive their foes are 

 the fire-bellied and the closely aUied yeUow-bellied 

 toads. Both species are inhabitants of Europe, 

 the distribution of the former being confined to 

 certain districts of Russia, Denmark, Sweden, 

 Germany, Austria and Hungary, while the latter 

 ranges from the north of Brittany to the south of 

 Greece. As their names imply, the ventral surface 

 of their bodies is decorated respectively with bright 

 orange or yellow pigments which are exposed to 

 view when the toads feign death. The creatures 

 are said to be very unpalatable, and other animals 

 quickly leam to realise the significance of the 

 warning colours so conspicuously displayed, and. 



