TOADS. 255 



which are not, however, peculiar to it ; Asia 

 nine ; Africa two ; Australia one ; and America 

 seventeen ; and there are four or five whose 

 locality is unrecorded. This enumeration, how- 

 ever, must be greatly under the mark ; as many 

 species have been lately added to those previ- 

 ously known. 



Genus Bufo, (Laur.) 



The characters by which the true Toads are 

 distinguished are thus enumerated by Professor 

 Bell. Body inflated, skin warty, parotids (or 

 glands behind the eyes) porous, hind feet of 

 moderate length, toes not webbed, jaws with- 

 out teeth, nose rounded. 



Eighteen species of this genus are recorded, 

 of which the best known is the Common Toad 

 {Bufo vulgaris, Laur.), which is spread over 

 Europe, Asia, and North Africa, being found 

 from Great Britain to Japan. It is nearly three 

 inches and a half in length, of an unpleasing 

 form and aspect ; the body pufled and swollen, 

 covered with warts, which are larger on the 

 upper parts, smaller, but more numerous beneath. 

 The colours are commonly a dull lurid blackish 

 hue above, with the warts brown ; and a dirty 

 yellowish white beneath. 



The Toad is not poisonous in the sense in 

 which the Viper is ; but the popular prejudice 

 is not wholly without foundation, which attri- 

 butes " sweltered venom " to this animal. On 

 the back and sides are situated many glands in 

 the skin, which secrete a fetid and acrid matter. 

 This substance exudes from the glands on pressure. 



