The Toad. 



507 





THE TOAD, (Bufo vulgaris,) 



WHOSE very name seems to carry with it something of 

 an opprobrious meaning, is not unworthy the attention 

 of the observer of nature ; for, though prejudice and 

 false associations have affixed a stigma on certain 

 species of animals, none of the works of our Creator 

 are despicable, but all, the more minutely they are ex- 

 amined, the greater claim they are found to have to our 

 admiration. Somewhat like the frog in the body, it also 

 resembles that animal in its habits ; but the frog leaps, 

 while the Toad crawls. It is an error to suppose the 

 Toad to be a noxious and venomous animal ; it is as 

 harmless as the frog, and, like some of the human kind, 

 only labours under the stigma of undeserved calumny. 

 Several stories have been related of its spitting poison, 

 or knowing how to expel the venom it may have re- 

 ceived from the spider or any other animals ; but these 

 fables have been long exploded. A curious and yet in- 

 explicable phenomenon is that Toads have been said to 

 be found alive in the centre of large blocks of stone, 

 where they must have subsisted without food and respi- 

 ration for a number of }^ears. The following are recorded 

 examples: In the year 1719, M. Hubert, professor of 

 philosophy at Caen, was witness to a living Toad being 

 taken from the solid trunk of an elm-tree. It was lodged 

 exactly in the centre, and filled the whole of the space 

 that contained it. The tree was in every other respect 

 firm and sound. Dr. Bradley saw a Toad taken from 

 the trunk of a large oak. In the year 1 733, a live Toad 

 was discovered byM. Gray burg in a hard and solid block 



