BODILY CHARACTERISTICS— CONSPICUOUSNESS 



305 



the examples already given will show that warning colours are 

 of such a kind and arranged in such a way as to secure con- 

 spicuousness, a fact which will be exemplified by still further 

 instances. The primary colours, especially red and yellow, are 

 the commonest in this connection, and the patterns in which they 

 are arranged commonly include spots, bands, and blotches. 



Hudson (in The Natit-ralist in La Plata) gives a vivid account 

 of the curious Horned Toad {Ceratophrys ornata) (fig. 486) of 

 South America, an aggressive creature in which the poisonous 



Fig. 486. — Homed Toad {Ceratophrys or/iafa) 



secretion is unusually virulent. Bright -green in colour, with 

 chocolate patches and yellow lips, this Toad is unusually for- 

 bidding in appearance, and very conspicuous, except when, half- 

 buried in some damp spot, it lies in wait for the small vertebrates 

 upon which it feeds. " When teased, the creature swells itself 

 out to such an extent one almost expects to see him burst; he 

 follows his tormentors about with slow awkward leaps, his vast 

 mouth wide open, and uttering an incessant harsh, croaking 

 sound." 



It is probable that brilliant or striking coloration in some 

 Fishes is to be correlated with poisonous or other unpleasant 

 qualities, but the matter still requires working out. Garstang 

 (quoted by Poulton in TAe Colours of Animals) thinks that an 

 example is afforded by our native Weever-Fish {Trachinus 

 vipera), which possesses poison-spines on its gill-covers, and is 

 distinguished by the intense black colour of its first dorsal fin. 

 It is in the habit of burying itself in the sand, this fin alone 



Vol. II. 52 



