176 



ANURA 



The eggs were laid on the 6 th of March ; the larvae left the 



jelly on the 16th, being 4 mm. long. On the 2nd of April they 

 measured 13 mm.; on the 25th, 20 mm. On the 7th of May 

 the hind-limbs appeared. On the 18 th of j\Iay the tadpoles had 

 reached their greatest length, namely 24 mm., and this is a rather 

 small size for so large a species. The fore-limbs l^roke through 

 on the 28th, and the metamorphosis was completed eighty-five 

 days after the eggs were laid, the creatures leaving the water 

 on the 30 th of May. The tadpoles showed a preference for 

 rotten pieces of Agariciis, which were floating in the water. The 

 little baby-toads are surprisingly small, scarcely 15 mm. long, 

 and live in the grass, under stones, in cracks of the ground, and 

 hop about in much better style than their heavier and more 

 clumsy-looking parents. Where many broods have been hatched 

 they can be met with in myriads, the ground literally swarming 

 with them, and as they are naturally stirred up by a sudden 

 warm rain, perhaps after a drought, people will occasionally state 

 it as an observed and w^ell-ascertained fact that " it has rained 

 toads." 



What becomes of all these hopeful little creatures ? Although 

 it takes them fully five years to reach maturity, one would expect 

 that the whole country would be swarming with toads ; but since 

 this is not the case, there being not more toads now than there 

 were before, it follows that their enormous fecundity is only just 

 sufficient to keep the race going. Adult toads seem to have 

 scarcely any enemies except the Grass Snake, which takes them in 

 default of anything better. But how about the reduction where 

 there are no snakes ? We know nothing about epidemics which 

 might carry them off, but elderly toads are liable to a horrible 

 disease produced by various kinds of flies, notably by Lucilia 

 bufonivora and Calliphora silvatica, the maggots of which some- 

 how or other eat their way from the nostrils into the brain and 

 into the eyes. Those which reach the brain at first produce 

 effects similar to those of Coenurus cerehralis, the hydatid or 

 bladder- worm of sheep. The toad inclines its head towards one 

 side, and cannot crawl straight, but walks in a circle. By eating 

 away the brain they gradually destroy the host's life. But 

 if none enter the brain, and a few only find their way into the 

 eye, they only impair or destroy its sight. Such toads show 

 signs of pain, poking at or stroking the affected eye, which becomes 



