through sexual selection; these being transmitted either to the male offspring alone or to both sexes. _Anura_ or _Batrachia_.—With many frogs and toads the colours evidently serve as a protection, such as the bright green tints of tree-frogs and the obscure mottled shades of many terrestrial species. The most conspicuously coloured toad which I ever saw, namely the _Phryniscus nigricans_[40] had the whole upper surface of the body as black as ink, with the soles of the feet and parts of the abdomen spotted with the brightest vermilion. It crawled about the bare sandy or open grassy plains of La Plata under a scorching sun, and could not fail to catch the eye of every passing creature. These colours may be beneficial by making this toad known to all birds of prey as a nauseous mouthful; for it is familiar to every one that these animals emit a poisonous secretion, which causes the mouth of a dog to froth, as if attacked by hydrophobia. I was the more struck with the conspicuous colours of this toad, as close by I found a lizard (_Proctotretus multimaculatus_) which, when frightened, flattened its body, closed its eyes, and then from its mottled tints could hardly be distinguishable from the surrounding sand. With respect to sexual differences of colour, Dr. Günther knows of no striking instance with frogs or toads; yet he can often distinguish the male from the female, by the tints of the former being a little more intense. Nor does Dr. Günther know of any striking difference in external structure between the sexes, excepting the prominences which become developed during the breeding-season on the front-legs of the male, by which he is enabled to hold the female. The _Megalophrys montana_[41] (fig. 32) offers the best case of a certain amount of structural difference between the sexes; for in the male the tip of the nose and the eyelids are produced into triangular flaps of skin, and there is a little black tubercle on the back—characters which are absent, or only feebly developed, in the females. It is surprising that frogs and toads should not have acquired more strongly-marked sexual differences; for though cold-blooded, their passions are strong. Dr. Günther informs me that he has several times found an unfortunate female toad dead and smothered from having been so closely embraced by three or four males. [Illustration: Fig. 32. Megalophrys montana. The two left-hand figures, the male; the two right-hand figures, the female.]