ON REPTILES. 121 



great use in a garden, devouring great numbers 

 of slugs, worms, and destructive insects. It is 

 kept in cucumber and melon frames for that pur- 

 pose. I got a friend to send me twelve toads in a 

 box from Jersey for the late Mr. Knight, of the 

 Exotic Nursery, Chelsea, for one of his stove- 

 houses, which was much infested with insects, 

 and they cleared it of them very quickly. It 

 darts its long tongue out when two inches from 

 its prey, and seizes it so rapidly that it is diffi- 

 cult to perceive its motion. Three gentlemen, 

 while walking on the Fairlight Downs, near 

 Hastings, saw a toad squatted on the ground, 

 holding the head of a viper in his mouth. The 

 viper writhed its body as if trying to escape, but 

 to no purpose. The eyes of the toad glared, and 

 it showed much ferocity. The entire head of 

 the viper was in the toad's mouth, which seemed 

 completely filled in consequence, and its jaws 

 were closed, and yet it appeared to breathe 

 freely. This fe the only instance I have ever 

 heard of a toad attacking a viper. 



The toad, like the snake and other reptiles, 

 sheds its skin at certain periods ; but not until a 

 new one has been formed underneath. The old 

 skin then cracks along the back and belly, and 



