A. JS. Verrill — The Bermuda Islands. 727 



in 1898. During the breeding season, in early spring, they often 

 get into water tanks, and being unable to escape, die there and spoil 

 the water. The ego's are also laid in the brackish water of the 

 marshes and will develop in such places, though the species seems to 

 prefer fresh water for its eggs, when available. A large female will 

 lay an enormous number of eggs. 



This toad has long ago been introduced into man} r of the West 

 Indies from South America. It has a wide range, from southern 

 Mexico to Brazil and Argentine. In Barbadoes and Jamaica it is 

 valued because of its habit of catching field-rats and insects. In the 

 stomachs of those that I dissected were only wings and other frag- 

 ments of cockroaches and ground beetles, with some fragments of 

 dry twigs probably swallowed accidentally. Young ones, about 

 half an inch in length, are often abundant in Bermuda, after showers 

 in July. 



It was introduced into Bermuda directly from British Guiana, by 

 Capt. Nathaniel Vesey, about 1875. About two dozen were taken 

 to Hamilton and mostly liberated in Devonshire Parish, from whence 

 they have dispersed themselves considerably. But it is possible that 

 they had long before been introduced by others, in small numbers, 

 for otherwise it seems strange that they should have reached Castle 

 Island, which has been long uninhabited. Possibly the ancestors of 

 those seen there and in some other parts may have been introduced 

 from the West Indies by soldiers, as early as 1812, but it was not 

 noticed by Hurdis, 1847-55. 



This toad is believed in South America and the West Indies, as 

 well as in Bermuda, to have a very poisonous secretion from its 

 parotid and dorsal glands. It is said that dogs that mouth them 

 invariably die within a few hours. The secretion of the glands, 

 when injected into the circulation of dogs, birds, and other animals, 

 causes convulsions and death, even when in small closes. Mr. A. H. 

 Verrill, of my party, on one occasion saw the venom ejected as a 

 fine spray, from the parotid glands of a large toad, when it was 

 much irritated. 



36. — Introduction of land Snails and Slugs. 



a. — Native Species. 



As compared with the smaller West Indian Islands, the Pulmonata 

 are here very few. The total number recorded from the Bermudas 

 is but 42, including 15 semiaquatic species found only on the sea 



