314 AMPHIBIANS. 



that of some game-birds that found their way into our 

 fauna under like auspices. There are many points of dis- 

 tinction about this frog, chief among them being the black 

 markings on the back, the fold of skin at the throat, the 

 complete webbing of the hind-toes, and the presence of 

 vocal sacs on the sides of the head, which are connected 

 with its croaking and are most in evidence in the breeding 

 season. This frog has a greenish hue, and there are black 

 marblings and white lines on the back.] 



A more innocuous creature than the insect-eating Toad 

 would be hard to imagine, yet it has always been re- 

 garded with disgust in every age and land. 

 The spitting of the toad is pure fiction, though 

 there is of course a dirty white sticky secretion in the 

 pores of the skin, which is used only in self-defence, and 

 which, with its poisonous, or at any rate irritant, pro- 

 perties, is able to procure the toad immunity from many 

 beasts and birds that do not thus spare frogs. When ex- 

 cited, the toad is observed to puff itself out and exude beads 

 of this secretion. From the frog this animal is easily dis- 

 tinguished by its warty skin, the swellings over its eyes, 

 its clumsier build, and the shortness of its hind-legs. The 

 mouth has no teeth, the tongue, free behind though at- 

 tached in front, being but slightly cleft at the tip. With 

 this organ, tipped like that of the frog with a gummy 

 secretion, the toad catches insects with lightning rapidity, 

 much after the fashion adopted by the chameleon, the 

 sight of which on the feed is among the most interesting 

 reminiscences of a visit to Regent's Park. Otherwise, it 

 is a sluggish creature. On the stories current about dis- 

 interred toads, however, that have survived ages imprisoned 

 in sandstone, the gravest suspicion is usually permitted to 

 rest. In colour, the toad is brown above, with black 

 markings; below, white, with black spots. There are 

 double tubercles beneath the hind-toes. It spawns, like 

 frogs, in the water, the spawn floating in a double row. 



