68 TEOGS. — TOADS. 



is notorious to everybody; because we see them sticking 

 upon each other's backs for a month together in the spring ; 

 and yet I never saw or read of toads being observed in the 

 same situation.* It is strange that the matter with regard 

 to the venom of toads has not been yet settled.f That they 

 are not noxious to some animals is plain ; for ducks, buzzards, 

 owls, stone curlews, and snakes eat them, to my knowledge, 

 with impunity. And I well remember the time, but was not 

 an eye-witness to the fact (though numbers of persons were), 

 when a quack at this village ate a toad, to make the country 

 people stare ; afterwards he drank oil.J 



* The copulation of frogs and toads is performed in the same manner. The 

 spermatic fluid is passed upon the ova at the time they are expelled from the 

 female. The ova of the frog are laid in conglutinated masses ; those of 

 the toad, in long chain-like strings. The ova of the latter are also much 

 smaller. — W. J. 



+ Blumenbach, whose authority may generally be depended on, asserts that 

 there is no truth in the supposition that the urine of toads is poisonous. 

 I recollect, however, the case of a gardener who, while cutting gooseberry 

 bushes, scratched his hand. Afterwards, in taking up a toad which he found 

 under the bush, the animal discharged some of its urine on his hand, which 

 became much inflamed and prevented his working for some time after- 

 wards. — Ed. 



X I have had a toad so tame that, when it was held in one hand, it would 

 take its food from the other held near it. The manner in which this animal 

 takes its prey is very interesting. The tongue, when at rest, is doubled back 

 upon itself in the mouth, and the apex, which is broad, is imbued with a most 

 tenacious mucus. On seeing an insect, the animal fixes its beautiful eyes 

 upon it, leans or creeps forward, and when within reach, the tongue is projected 

 upon the insect, and again returned into the mouth with the captive prey, by a 

 motion so rapid, that without the most careful observation the action cannot bo 

 followed. An insect is never taken unless when in motion ; and I have often 

 seen a toad remain motionless for some minutes, with its eyes fixed upon an 

 insect, and the instant it moved it disappeared with the quickness of lightning. 

 The insect is swallowed whole, and alive ; and I have often seen the reptile 

 much incommoded by the struggles of its imprisoned prey, particularly if it 

 consist of large and hard insects, as full grown cockroaches, for instance, when 

 the twitching of its sides, from the irritation produced by the movements of the 

 insects in the stomach, is sufficiently ludicrous. — T. B. 



My ingenious friend, the late George Newenham, Esq. of Summer Hill, 

 Cork, carried a live toad w:th him from Edinburgh, which he kept at his 

 country seat of Summer Hill for several years, where it became quite tame, in 

 the same way as that mentioned by White. The most amusing feat which it 

 performed was the swallowing of a worm, which it seemed to relish highly, and 

 was eager to master in proportion to the difficulty presented by the writhings 

 •f the creature. The spring before I was at Summer Hill, this singular pet 



