70 
ANIMAL CURIOSITIES 
being returned to its former situation the 
creature then reverted to its original colour 
after an interval of a quarter of an hour. 
The European tree-frog is another example 
which changes its colour according to its 
surroundings, for when reposing upon the 
earth, or amidst dead leaves, it is of a brown 
tint, but when it sits upon growing foliage 
it assumes a bright green livery. 
Even more remarkable is the behaviour 
of Gough’s tree-frog, from Trinidad, which 
undergoes the most wonderful transformations 
of colour. Sometimes an individual may be 
brown upon the back, at other times yellow 
or grey; while, moreover, the anterior half 
of the creature may be of a different hue from 
the posterior half, or the left side of a different 
colour from the right side. The skin may also 
be decorated with various coloured designs, 
sometimes in the form of an hour-glass, and 
at other times as cross-bars, and even both 
together, these patterns rapidly appearing 
and disappearing. 
Then, again, in reference to the colour¬ 
changing habits of yet another species of tree- 
frog, Sir Emerson Tennent states: “ One 
of these beautiful little creatures, which had 
seated itself on the gilt pillar of a lamp on my 
dinner-table, became in a few minutes scarcely 
