INCONGRUOUS ASSOCIATION. 175 



been mainly instrumental in freeing us from the visits of ghosts 

 and hobgoblins, namely, the smell of the printer's ink. 



It is hardly necessary to say that the Salamander is not a 

 native of Britain ; though several species are found on the 

 Continent. The animal rarely exceeds six inches in length ; 

 and now that it has fallen from its high estate, it receives 

 scarcely as much notice as, from its former fame, it properly 

 deserves. 



: The various members of the Batrachia which we have hitherto 

 ntroduced to the reader in this review of their principal forms, 

 are all distinguished by the possession of the caudal appendage 

 throughout the entire period of their existence ; but we now 

 advance to the highest section of the order, the members of 

 which, with very exalted notions of their own importance, dis- 

 encumber themselves of this badge of inferiority on their first 

 emergence from the water, and ever afterwards walk (or rather 

 hop) the earth, as the Anourous Amphibia or Tailless Batra- 

 chians. 



In the forefront of these Batrachians par excellence stands a 

 race of tongueless, triangular-headed Toads, represented by the 

 monster already alluded to, the Pipa, Americana, or Surinam 

 Toad. Captain Stedrnan, in his "Narrative of the Expedition 

 to Surinam," describes this monster as " the most hideous of all 

 creatures upon earth, covered over with a dark-brown scrofulous 

 skin, very uneven, and marked with irregular black spots," and 

 in size "often larger than a common duck when plucked and 

 pinioned." The reader will please be so good as notice that it is 

 Captain Stedman who is guilty of this horribly incongruous 

 association of " the most hideous of all creatures upon earth " 

 and roast duck. The captain had evidently a " strong stomach," 

 or the mere making of such a comparison would have taken 

 away his appetite for a week. And yet we are bound to state 

 that, after all, the comparison is just; for "tastes differ," and, 

 however incredible it may seem, your genuine Surinamese regards 

 the Pipa as a very " duck " for the table, and, hunting it out 

 from the dark corners of his house, makes a feast of the scrofulous 

 monster. 



It is Voltaire, we believe, who somewhere Bays, that if a 

 Toad were asked his ideal of beauty, he would most likely 

 describe himself, and dwell complacently on a cold clammy 



