Rene Cayli Mar. 31, 1951 270 edges of the gear. In the dark phase, individual melanophores which are macroscopically invisible in the light phase expand themselves to give the throat a mottled cast with no definite pattern. The throat of the Shade frog has numerous dark semiformal markings against a dark background. These markings average about 1.5 x 8 mm. The contrast between the marking and the background changes in goin from light to dark phase, but the pattern is essentially the same