442 THIRD REPORT 1833. 



into its mouth by a power of fascination. " The toad takes 

 its prey in the same manner as the chamaeleon and many 

 other hzards, by projecting its tongue, striking the insect, and 

 drawing it back into the mouth, and this it does so rapidly that 

 the action cannot be seen ; but if a fly ahghts on the outside of 

 a glass vessel in which a toad is inclosed, the creature, thinking 

 its prey is within its reach, performs the usual act, and the 

 stroke of the tongue is very distinctly heard against the inside 

 of the glass opposite to the fly." 



Stories are very frequently published of living toads being 

 found encased in solid rocks and in the trunks of trees, and 

 these accounts I'eceive very general credit. To ascertain how 

 far this is probable. Dr. Macartney made the following experi- 

 ments. 



He placed a toad in a glass vessel covered loosely with a 

 piece of slate, and buried the vessel containing the toad about a 

 foot deep in a garden ; on digging it up a fortnight aftei'wards, 

 the animal was in perfect health, and had recovered from a 

 wound it had previously received in the thigh. He then took 

 the same toad, and having secured the top of the vessel in such 

 a way that no air nor moisture could be admitted, he buried it 

 in the same place, and on raising it a week afterwards found 

 the animal dead and putrid : from hence he concluded that the 

 toad cannot live if moisture and atmospheric air be perfectly 

 excluded. It is very probable that toads have been often found 

 alive in chasms of rocks, or in hollow trees having a small aper- 

 ture through which the air and also insects might enter ; but 

 that any animal possessing lungs should hve for an indefinite 

 time without some communication with the atmosphere appears 

 quite incredible. 



Cuvier has stated that the toad, although not venomous, yet 

 when provoked ejects a liquor from two glands placed on its 

 head, Avhich is capable of irritating the skin. Dr. Macartney 

 has often had toads in his possession, but never observed any- 

 thing of the kind ; nor does he believe that the animal has any 

 disposition to injure others : on the contrary, the toad is very 

 gentle, capable of being domesticated, and of becoming attached 

 to those who treat it well. 



It is a popular notion that toads cannot live in Ireland, which 

 opinion is in some degree countenanced by the fact of there 

 being no reptiles in that country except the water-newt and the 

 frog, and the latter was introduced within the last century. It 

 is also understood that there are no reptiles in the Isle of Man. 

 The climate of both these islands being more moist than that 

 of England would be particularly sviitable to frogs and toads, 



