494 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1891. 



glass cover, has remained in the same state for 18 months. I need not say what a 

 boon this would be to the microscopist who, whilst wishing to study some sub- 

 ject, did not wish to mount his specimens permanently. But with all these ad- 

 vantages it is of little use for public exhibition, and I need scarcely say this was 

 a great disappointment to me. The spider question solved my difficulties (at 

 least, I hope so) once more. I noticed how exceedingly hard some spiders had 

 become in the oil, when it occurred to me that specimens that had become so 

 firm would resist the dehydrating action of glycerine; and that if spiders would, 

 anything would. The experiment was at once tried — the large rat snake, seven 

 feet long, some frogs, ami the fish coloured and uncoloured, will show you 

 with what success. There are also a few spiders exhibited. The oil is also an 

 admirable preservative for large fish skins that can be mounted afterwards. 

 They require no varnishing and retain much of their lustre, and a large sea perch 

 is exhibited prepared in this way. I have now merely to read the recipe. 



Add carbolic acid to cocoa-nut oil till the oil marks 10 to 20 degrees beloiu proof on 

 an hydrometer. The more acid the more powerful the dehydrating effect, and judg- 

 ment must be used. In this climate it is best, although not absolutely necessary, 

 to remove the entrails. Place the specimen, carefully wrapped in rag, in plenty of 

 this preparation. If wanted to mount for shoiv, drain off the superfluous oil and 

 mount in glycerine. 



No. VII.— THE POISON OF THE TOAD. 

 Mr. W. B. Tegetmeier, writing in the Field on 12th September, 1891, 

 says : — 



A very interesting correspondence has lately taken place in the columns of 



the Lancet respecting the precise action of the poisonous secretion in the glands 



of the skin of the toad. Dr. T. Lauder Brunton has given some very useful 



details. Passing over the snakes, in which the poison is secreted by a modified 



salivary gland, he states that in the toads and salamanders, the poison is secreted 



by glands in the skin, and it may be obtained for examination by scraping 



them with a blunt metallic implement. In the toad the secretion is thick, yellow, 



and adhesive. It retains its poisonous character when dried for at least a year, 



and possibly longer. As a poison it does not appear to be particularly virulent 



when it is taken into the stomach of another animal, such as a rabbit or dog ; 



but injected into a wound it is very active, and causes ulceration or mortification 



at the point where it is injected ; and it also produces vomiting, convulsions, 



paralysis of all the voluntary muscles, and uncertain gait which follows such a 



state of things. 



It is noted that all toads are not equally poisonous. The Italian toad, which 

 closely resembles, if it is not identical with, our Natter Jack— the toad distin- 

 guished by a yellow line down the centre of the back — appears to be more poison- 

 ous than the French species, which is identical with the common English toad. 

 In Moquin-Tandon's "Elements of Medical Zoology " a good deal of informa- 



