CHANGE-COLOUR ANIMALS
Frogs,, fishes and, ehamelons, which are back-boned animals., are all capable of changing colour. Trout, for example, gain protection by becoming light or dark according to the colour of their surroundings, However, in chalk districts, where a light tint is assumed by most of these lisli, blackish creatures are sometimes seen, -which,, on examination, usually - prove to be blind. The; same thing is true of frogs and ehamelons Avhich have lost their power of seeing, in which case they remain of a blackish hue. These colour changes are. due to the alteration in size of tiny •colourbodies in the skin, Avhich contain different colouring matters. When these contract, a light shade is produced and Avhen they expand, a dark one. The variations in size arc controlled by the nervous system.. according to the impressions received by the eye l'rom the surroundings. Among lower animals, the- skin ilscil' is acted on by the light, and if their eyes are blinded it makes no difference to the animal changing colour.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/BPB19430706.2.34
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Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 6, Issue 87, 6 July 1943, Page 7
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170CHANGE-COLOUR ANIMALS Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 6, Issue 87, 6 July 1943, Page 7
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