TOADS. Bd I 
Perhaps no animal has been more unjustly abused than the 
Common Toad. It has been reviled for its ugliness, feared for its 
supposed venomous properties, and hated for its imagined vindic- 
tiveness. Even Mr. Pennant speaks of it “as the most deformed 
and hideous of all animals.’”’ So ugly, indeed, that it required, so 
he said, a certain amount of resolution to view it with attention. 
Though certain other Toads seem to possess poisonous proper- 
ties, it has never been proved, I believe, that B. vulgaris has any 
venomous powers whatever. 
Dogs do not care to seize with their mouth a Toad a second 
time because of a milky-looking acrid secretion, which comes from 
FIG. 83.—THE COMMON ToaD (Bufo vulgaris). 
a large gland on each side of the neck (the parotoids) and from 
other smaller glands which cover the animal’s body. Dr. John 
Davy considered that the chief use of this secretion was as a 
means of defence against the attacks of carnivorous animals. 
The Common Snake (Tropidonotus natrix) and many other 
species will readily eat Toads. A great authority on these 
Reptiles says that when a 7. natriz, or other Snake of the same 
genus, swallows a large Toad it nearly always dies in consequence. 
This, however, has not been my experience. My Snakes have 
often taken Toads (not very large ones, indeed), and as far as I 
know have never suffered any ill effects therefrom. 
