282 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



contained two Salamanders and the two Anura referred to. 

 On the morning of June 10th, however, my Xenopus was found 

 lying in the dish motionless and apparently dead, side by side 

 with a dead Salamander (S, maculosa), whose contorted body 

 betokened intense excitement. The Anuran, on being handled, 

 was roused to tetanic movements of the distal parts of its hind 

 limbs ; respiration had well nigh ceased ; and its fore limbs, 

 which were thrust backwards to their utmost, so that they lay 

 almost parallel with the long axis of the body, were, together 

 with its head and trunk, rigid and benumbed. The little creature's 

 eyes, which were starting from its head, were blinded as if in 

 epilepsy, and its body was thickly clad in a profusion of mucus. 

 Upon removing the last named and placing the animal in shallow 

 water with its head above the surface resuscitation was induced, 

 and in twenty-four hours it fully revived, except for a timorous - 

 ness which it has since retained. 



I had every reason to believe that my animals had not been 

 tampered with ; and, as there were no signs of general dis- 

 turbance, disorder and death from mutual poisoning naturally 

 suggested itself. The body of the Anuran showed no perceptible 

 sign of injury, such as might have been inflicted by the bite of 

 the Salamander ; but the mouth of the latter, which was full of 

 mucus, contained a number of abraded epidermic cells, which, 

 upon examination, proved to be those of the Frog. That the 

 former animal had been endeavouring to swallow the latter 

 would thus appear clear ; that the mucus with which the Frog 

 was besmeared had been secreted by its own skin was certain, 

 from the glassy transparency and general aspects of the same ; 

 and the extraordinary backward thrust of its fore limbs already 

 alluded to appear to me to point most naturally to an accom- 

 modating displacement within the jaws of its enemy. 



The above facts, while they do not furnish the "direct 

 evidence" sought by Mr. Poulton, show the mouth of the Sala- 

 mander to have in all probability contained a toxic secretion. 

 They speak most forcibly, however, for the " unpleasant attri- 

 bute" of the skin of the Anuran. M. Paul Bert has shown, as 

 is well known, that the " venom" of a toad, if administered to a 

 fowl subcutaneously, will cause death, and the observation herein 

 recorded points to the possession of a similar power by the skin 

 of the rarer Xenopus, 



