LEAVES FROM THE NOTE-BOOK OF A NATURALIST. 



127 



Well, it had frequented the steps before the 

 iiall-door some years before he became acquainted 

 with it. His father, who admired its size 

 which was of the largest the son ever met with 

 paid it a visit every evening. He himself con- 

 stantly fed it, and brought it to be so tame, that 

 it always came to the candle, and looked up as if 

 expecting to be taken up and brought upon the 

 table, where he always fed it with insects of all 

 sorts. It was fondest of flesh magots, which he 

 kept in bran. It would follow them, and, when 

 within a proper distance, would fix its eye, and 

 remain motionless for near a quarter of a minute, 

 as if preparing for the stroke, " which was an 

 instantaneous throwing its tongue at a great dis- 

 tance upon the insect, which stuck to the tip by a 

 glutinous matter;" and he adds, most truly, " the 

 motion is quicker than the eye can follow." 



And here is the solution of the so-called fasci- 

 nation in which Linnaeus himself believed ; for in 

 the Systcma Natura (1766) the reader will find, 

 under Rana Bufo, the following assertion : Insecta 

 in fauces fascino revocat. 



I always imagined (says that acute observer, 

 the younger Mr. Arscott) that the root of its 

 tongue was placed in the forepart of its under jaw, 

 and the tip towards its throat, by which the motion 

 must be a half-circle ; by which, when its tongue 

 recovered its situation, the insect at the tip would 

 be brought to the place of deglutition. I was con- 

 firmed in this by never observing any internal 

 motion in the mouth, excepting one swallow the 

 instant its tongue returned. Possibly I might be 

 mistaken, for I never dissected one, but contented 

 myself with opening its mouth and slightly inspect- 

 ing it. 



No, my good Mr. Arscott, you were not mis- 

 taken ; and you have described the process beau- 

 tifully ; but how is the action performed? 



The anomalous structure and position of the 

 tongue in most of the anurous or tailless batrachi- 

 ans* that is, tailless in their last and most 

 perfect state are very striking. Soft and fleshy 

 almost throughout, that organ is, in the toad, 

 unsupported at its base by any internal bone. 

 The os hyo'idcs is altogether absent, and the tongue 

 is attached anteriorly in the concavity formed by 

 the two branches of the lower jaw towards the 

 symphysis, so that its root, instead of being at the 

 back of the fauces, is in the interior edge of the 

 fore part of the lower jaw, and its free extremity 

 is in the back part of the mouth, and before the 

 aperture of the air-passages, when it is at rest. 

 When in action, it becomes considerably elon- 

 gated, and is projected sharply out of the mouth, 

 as if it turned on a pivot in the anterior edge of the 

 jaw ; so that, when thrown out, the surface which 

 was under, when in repose in the mouth, comes 

 uppermost ; and, when returned into the mouth, 

 the surface which an instant previously was 

 uppermost, resumes its original position, and is 

 lowermost. A viscous secretion, which is very 



* In Dactylethra the tongue is attached at the back of 

 the mouth ; and Pipa has none. 



tenacious, completes this engine of destruction ; 

 and, when employed in the capture of prey, it 

 reaches to a considerable distance, and returns 

 with the insect into the mouth, where the morsel 

 is generally compressed, involved in a further 

 glutinous sort of saliva, and submitted to the 

 action of deglutition. The muscular machinery by 

 which this action, so important to the animal, is 

 effected, is a beautiful example of adaptation ; for 

 the muscles which regulate the motion of the 

 bones and cartilages of the mouth act more 

 especially upon the lower jaw, the bone of the 

 mandible and the tongue, which is by their power 

 shot forth and returned with the prey with such 

 celerity, that, as has been before observed, he 

 must have a very acute and prompt vision who 

 can detect the action. Most observers will see 

 that when an insect comes within tongue-shot of 

 a toad when upon its feed, it disappears ; but few 

 will detect the action of the tongue itself, if the 

 reptile be healthy and lively. 



Mr. Arscott's old toad had none of that antipa- 

 thy to spiders which old legends would have us 

 believe existed betwe'en those reptiles and insects ; 

 he used to eat five or six with his millipedes, 

 which Mr. Arscott took to be his favorite food, 

 and which were provided for the pet, till his 

 master found out that flesh magots, by their con- 

 tinual motion, formed the most tempting bait. 

 When offered blowing flies and humble-bees, it 

 would take them and, in short, any insect that 

 moved ; and Mr. Arscott imagined that if a honey 

 bee had been put before it, it would have eaten 

 it, to its cost. Bees, however, are seldom stirring 

 at the same time as toads, which <lo not often 

 venture forth after sunrise or before sunset, though 

 they will occasionally come to the mouth of their 

 hole in the heat of the day, probably for air. 

 But Mr. Arscott once observed another large toad, 

 which he had in the bank of a bowling-green, at 

 noon, on a very hot day, " very busy and active 

 upon the grass ; so uncommon an appearance," 

 says he, " made me go out to see what it was, 

 when I found an innumerable swarm of winged 

 ants had dropped round his hole, which tempta- 

 tion was as irresistible as a turtle would be to a 

 luxurious aJderman." 



The pet-toad that lived under the steps did not 

 long survive the rough usage of that malicious 

 fiend, the raven. It never enjoyed itself, to use 

 Mr. Arscott's expression, after the attack, and 

 had a difficulty in taking its food, missing its 

 mark for want of the eye of which the raven had 

 deprived it ; and so it languished, and languish- 

 ing, did live for a twelvemonth, when its life and 

 sufferings ceased together. 



I have satisfied myself that there is hardly any 

 insect of proportionate size that a toad will not 

 take when in motion ; and if an artificial fly were 

 moved before it, within tongue shot, it would 

 doubtless take it. Most of us have heard of the 

 mauvaise plaisanterie of throwing small pieces of 

 glowing charcoal to the poor bull-frog, which 

 swallowed them to its destruction, taking the 



