254 ANOURA» BUFONID.E. 



Family III. Bufonid.e. 



{Toads.) 



The Toads are totally without teeth, both in 

 the jaws and in the palate; the body is thick 

 and swollen, and the skin is set with warts or 

 tubercles ; behind each eye is a glandular pro- 

 tuberance, studded with pores, from which a 

 milky secretion exudes ; the head is large and 

 flat on the top ; the hinder limbs are not much 

 longer than the fore, and consequently their 

 powers of leaping are but small. They habitu- 

 ally crawl, and when they jump, it is with 

 little agility, and only to a short distance. In 

 the tadpole state they inhabit the w^ater, and 

 resemble the members of the preceding Families ; 

 but after their metamorphosis, they are much 

 less dependent on the presence of that element, 

 rather affecting dry situations. They are for 

 the most part nocturnal in their habits, crawling 

 about in the twilight and darkness in search of 

 insects and slugs, but retiring during the day 

 into holes in the earth, beneath stones, roots of 

 trees, and other obscure retreats. 



Some of the foreign Toads are marked by 

 curious peculiarities of structure. One genus 

 has the back armed with a long dorsal shield ; 

 another has the muzzle set with beards : some 

 have only four toes on the hind foot ; others 

 have on the same foot two large oblong tubercles 

 in addition to the five normal toes. 



Geographically the Toads are said to be thus 

 distributed : — Europe possesses four species. 



