332 bad THE VIVARIUM, 
Mr. St. George Mivart says that the tadpoles of both Frogs 
and Salamanders are very much affected by being kept in the 
same water with Toads. 
The Common Toad soon becomes very tame, and, like the 
Natterjack, will learn to take flies from the window-panes while 
being held in its owner’s hands. It will also sit in one of his 
hands and seize its prey when placed in the other. The late Pro- 
fessor Romanes, in his ‘‘ Animal Intelligence,” says that a case is 
“recorded by Mr. Pennant of a Toad which was domesticated for 
thirty-six years, and knew all his friends.”’ 
A Toad is not only nicer to touch,.but it can also bear much 
more heat, than the Frog. It has, however, like the latter 
Batrachian, a portable reservoir for the storage and conveyance 
of water. When a Toad is frightened it will generally inflate 
itself, exude its cutaneous secretion, and discharge what water 
it has stored up in its reservoir. This water is regarded by those 
who are ignorant of the animal and its ways as highly poisonous, 
though it is really perfectly harmless and tasteless. 
The Toad’s powers of endurance are wonderful, but they are 
‘not nearly so wonderful as is generally supposed. From time to 
time we hear of Toads being found in blocks of stone and in 
. lumps of coal. And it is not difficult to find people who will 
readily believe that these strange creatures have been cooped 
up in these small prisons for centuries. The following, quoted 
by the Zoologist (p. 9630) from the Leeds Mercury for 8th April, 
1865, is an example of this belief: ‘‘ During the excavations 
which are being carried out under the superintendence of Mr. 
James Yeal, of Dyke House Quay, in connection with the 
Hartlepool Waterworks, the workmen on Friday morning found 
a Toad embedded in a block of magnesian limestone, at a depth 
of 25ft. from the surface of the earth, and 8ft. from any spring- 
water vein. The block of stone had been cut by a wedge, and 
was reduced by the workmen, when a pick split open the cavity 
in which the Toad had been incarcerated. The cavity was no 
larger than its body, and presented the appearance of being a 
cast of it. The Toad’s eyes shone with unusual brilliancy, and 
it was full of vivacity on its liberation. It appeared, when first 
discovered, desirous to perform the process of respiration, but 
