IIERPETOLOGY OF THE GRAND DUCHY OF BADEN. 213 



to expect that it will be found in other parts of the Grand Duchy 

 in course of time. For it is only natural that all rarer species 

 should first be signalled from the neighbourhood of University 

 or other large towns — such as Freiburg, Bonn, Berlin, Strassburg 

 — on account of the larger number of collectors and students 

 living there. 



I have heard the flute -like notes of Alytes in the vineyards 

 near Oberschaffhausen (Kaiserstuhl), but not near Karlsruhe. 

 At the Laacher See, in the Eifel, I searched in vain for it under 

 blocks of lava, &c, but the season (first week of April) may have 

 been too early for this locality. 



2. Bombinator bombinus, L. — Universally distributed in 

 Baden and the Bavarian Palatinate, and common enough near 

 Karlsruhe (Wildpark, Durlacher Wald, &c), as well as in all the 

 ditches — muddy by preference — on the level ground and hills. At 

 Eggenstein it occurs in the same locality with Bufo vulgaris, 

 Rana arvalls, fusca, and esculenta. 



I mention this because I have twice had an opportunity of 

 noticing that where the area is more restricted and there are 

 several unconnected ponds, the last-named frog and B. bombinus 

 keep apart, as though disliking each other's company. They 

 certainly occur promiscuously where there is no choice ; but 

 judging also by other facts, this enmity may be due to the acrid 

 secretion in the skin of one species being distasteful to the 

 other. 



This fluid, with B. bombinus, is developed chiefly on the 

 lower surfaces, and connected with the bright warning colour 

 which the animal takes care to display by turning over on its 

 back. This curious habit seems to have been accidentally 

 acquired, perhaps from hurrying and stumbling when pursued, 

 and, pending its general adoption, that part of the body, to judge 

 by the colour of the young, has been rendered more conspicuous. 

 Conversely, the upper parts are tending to lose their darker 

 markings ; for, when it thinks itself unseen, it will sit motionless, 

 only showing the back, the colour of which is highly protective. 



Many of these attitudes, originally merely the result of fright, 

 have been gradually improved upon, and pass imperceptibly into 

 those of feigning death. Some batrachians, on being alarmed, 

 suddenly draw in all their legs, presumably to present the 

 appearance of an inanimate object ; others heighten the effect by 



