24 



THE COMMON FROG. [chap. 



which devours other smaller Frogs as well as small 

 birds and beasts, is noteworthy on account of the 

 singular bony plates which are enclosed in the skin of 

 its back: a character which it shares with a small 

 South American Toad {Brachycephalus ephippimn), 

 and which we shall hereafter see to be a point of 

 special interest. 



A Frog newly discovered ^ (of a new genus but 

 allied to Rand), called Clinotarsus'^ has been repre- 

 sented, in the hope that by the v/ider circulation of 

 a figure of it, it may be recognized, and its habitat 

 so ascertained (Fg. 5). 



The common Toad {Bufo vnlgaris) is as widely dis- 

 tributed over the earth's surface as is Ra7ia esailenta. 

 It is less aquatic than the Frog, and more sluggish in 

 its motions. In shape it resembles the Frog, but is 

 more swollen, with much shorter legs and a warty 

 skin. The toes are less webbed, and the margin of 

 the upper jaw, as well as the lower, is entirely des- 

 titute of teeth. The jaws are similarly toothless in 

 all toads. 



The toad is provided with an oblong, elongated 

 gland called (Parotoid) behind each eye. These 

 glands emit a milky secretion which is acrid and 

 very unpleasant to the mouth of some carnivorous 

 animals. Those who have observed a dog attacking 

 a toad can hardly have failed to notice the disgust 



^ The type of this genus is a species which was in my own col- 

 lection (with no clue to the locality whence it originally came), but is 

 now deposited in the British Museum. It was first described in the 

 Proceedings of the Zoological Society for 1S68, under the name 

 Pachyhatrach us . 



2 Proc. Zool. Soc. 1869. 



