136 OUR REPTILES. 



In its pace it differs from the rest of the toad tribe, running 

 nearly in the manner of a mouse, with the body and legs some- 

 what raised. It is chiefly a nocturnal animal, lying hid by day 

 in the cavities of walls, rocks, &c. The male and female per- 

 fectly resemble each other. They breed in June : so speedy is 

 the evolution of the ova that the tadpoles liberate themselves 

 from the spawn in the space of five or six days. This happens 

 about the middle of June ; and about the end of August the 

 hind legs appear, which, in a certain space, are succeeded by the 

 fore legs, and by September and October the animals appear in 

 their complete form. 



Roesel informs us that this species is known in some parts of 

 Germany by the name of roerldincj, or reed frog, from its fre- 

 quenting in spring-time such places as are overgrown with 

 reeds, where it utters a strong and singular note or croak. 

 When handled or teased, it diffuses an intolerable odour, resem- 

 bling that of the smoke of gunpowder, but stronger ; this pro- 

 ceeds from a whitish acrimonious fluid, which it occasionally 

 exudes from its pores. The smell in some degree resembles that 

 of orpiment or arsenic in a state of evaporation ; and sometimes 

 the animal can ejaculate this fluid to the distance of three or 

 four feet, which, if it happen to fall on any part of the room 

 where the creature is kept, will, according to Roesel, be per- 

 ceived two months afterwards.* 



As far as this country is concerned, the foregoing 

 is a great exaggeration of the odour emitted by this 

 toad. Lord Clermont remarks : " When excited, it 

 emits from the skin a strong sulphury odour." At 

 present we have not experienced a very strong 

 sulphury odour, much less any approximation to 

 Shaw's description. There is, however, a very ap- 

 preciable odour under certain conditions of excite- 

 ment, &c. 



* Shaw's " Zoology," vol. iii., pt. i., p. 14 ( J. 



