III.] THE COMMON FROG. 25 



which the former animal seems to exhibit by the 

 copious flow of its saliva, its many head-shakings, 

 &c. The toad's secretion, however, cannot be said 

 to be poisonous, and certainly it is not so in the 

 mode in which the venom of serpents is poisonous, 

 since a chicken may be inoculated with it, and yet 

 appear to suffer no injury whatever beyond the inflic- 

 tion of the slight wound necessary for the perform- 

 ance of the operation. Nevertheless the secretion 



Fig. 6. — The Common Toad {Bu/o vicigarts). 



exercises a very decided effect upon certain animals, 

 since the tadpoles both of frogs and of salamanders 

 are very powerfully affected by being kept in the 

 same water with a toad, if the latter be specially 

 irritated in order to make it discharge its pungent 

 and irritating secretion. 



True poison and organs fitter" both to inflict wounds 

 and to convey the venom into them are not indeed 

 found in any animals which are even near allies of 



