THE TOADS. 175 



Ben Jonson in his witches' charms gives the following : 



" The scritch owle's eggs and the feathers black, 

 The blond of the frogge and the bone in his backe, 

 I have been getting, and made of his skin 

 A purset to keep Sir Cranion in. 

 I went to the toad, who breeds under the wall, 

 I charmed him out, and he came at my call, 

 I scratch'd out the eyes of the owle before, 

 I tore the bat's wings, what would you have more ? " 



That eminent naturalist, the late Thomas Bell, in his 

 work on the " British Reptiles," article " Toad," says : 

 " Few animals have ever suffered more undeserved persecu- 

 tion as the victims of an absurd and ignorant prejudice than 

 the toad. Condemned by common consent as a disgusting, 

 odious, and venomous reptile, the proverbial emblem of all 

 that is malicious and hateful in the human character, it is 

 placed under universal ban, and treated as an outlaw both 

 by man and boy throughout the country. Should I be able, 

 by the following history of its habits and manners, to show 

 that it is, on the contrary, highly useful, perfectly harmless, 

 inoffensive, and even timid, and susceptible of no inconsider- 

 able degree of discriminating attachment to those who treat 

 it with kindness, it is hoped that some few individuals may 

 be thus rescued from those barbarous acts of cruelty to 

 which the species is almost everywhere subjected." 



There is no doubt that the toad does produce a highly 

 nauseous secretion from its skin which is most unpleasant 

 to other animals, but it is not venomous in the usual 

 acceptation of the term. 



The second species is the NATTER JACK (Bufo calamita), 

 not so common as the previous, but still found in many 

 places ; it was formerly found in considerable numbers 

 about Blackheath and Deptford. It is not so sluggish as 

 the common toad. The eyes are much more elevated above 

 the surface of the head, and more prominent. It is more 

 terrestrial in its habits, and the rudimentary sixth toe 

 found in the common toad is absent. It is also easily 

 distinguished by the yellowish line along the middle of 

 the back. 



