690 



at 



I it is believed that they never discharge it, 

 except when they are disturbed or pursued, 

 ' and then only to lighten their bodies, and 

 : facilitate their escape. That the moisture 

 : thus imbibed is sufficient to enable some of 

 1 the Amphibia to exist without any other food, 

 cannot (he thinks) be reasonably doubted ; 

 1 and if this is admitted, the circumstance of 

 i Toads being found alive in the centre of 

 | trees is fully accounted for." 



We are quite ready to admit that many very 

 j extraordinary casts of this animal having 

 lived for years embedded in etone, wood, or 

 otherwise in a state of total exclusion from the 

 I air, and also without the means of obtaining a 

 particle of food during the whole time, are to 

 be met with, supported by most respectable 

 authority ; and yet on this oft-discussed 

 question we still confess to a degree of scep- 

 ticism, the grounds of which we cannot better 

 explain than Dr. Shaw has already done for 

 us : We suspect " that proper attention, in 

 such cases, was not paid to the real situation 

 of the animal. That a Toad may have oc- 

 casionally 'latibulized' in some part of a 

 tree, and have been in some degree over- 

 taken or enclosed by the growth of the wood, 

 BO as to be obliged to continue in that situa- 

 tion, without being able to effect its escape, 

 may perhaps be granted : but it would pro- 

 bably continue to live so long only as there 

 remained a passage for air, and for the in- 

 gress of insects, &c., on which it might oc- 

 casionally feed ; but that it should be com- 

 pletely blocked tip in any kind of stone or 

 | marble, without either food or air, appears 

 | entirely incredible, and the general run of 

 such accounts must be received with a great I 

 many grains of allowance for the natural 

 love of the marvellous, the surprise excited 

 by the sudden appearance of the animal in 

 an unsuspected place, and the consequent 

 negkct of minute attention at the moment, 

 to the surrounding parts of the spot where 

 it was discovered." Well, indeed, may 

 Mr. Bell exclaim, " To believe that a Toad 

 enclosed within a mass of clay, or other 

 similar substance, shall exist wholly without 

 air or food, for hundreds of years, and at 

 length be liberated alive, and capable of 

 crawling, on the breaking up of the matrix, 

 now become a solid rock, is certainly a de- 

 mand upon our credulity which few would 

 be ready to answer ! " 



" Like the other Amphibia, and the Rep- 

 tilia generally," observes this gentleman, 

 " the Toad sheds its skin at certain intervals, 

 the old cuticle coming off, and leaving a 

 new one which had been formed underneath 

 in its stead. There are some very remarkable 

 circumstances connected with this process, 

 which I detailed many years ago to the 

 Zoological Club of the Linnsean Society, and 

 of which the following is the substance. 

 Having often found, amongst several Toads 

 which I was then keeping for the purpose 

 of observing their habits, some of brighter 

 colours than usual, and with the surface 

 moist and very smooth, I had supposed that 

 this appearance might have depended upon 

 the state of the animal's health, or the in- 

 fluence of some peculiarity in one or other 

 of its functions : on watching carefully, 



however, I one day observed a large one, the 

 skin of which was particularly dry and dull 

 in its colours, with a bright streak down the 

 mesial line of the back ; and on examining 

 further I discovered a corresponding line 

 along the belly. This proved to arise from 

 an entire slit in the old cuticle, which ex- 

 posed to view the new and brighter skin 

 underneath. Finding, therefore, what was 

 about to happen, I watched the whole detail 

 of this curious process. I soon observed that 

 the two halves of the skin, thus completely 

 divided, continued to recede further and 

 further from the centre, and become folded 

 and rugose ; and after a short space, by 

 means of the continued twitching of the 

 animal's body, it was brought down in folds 

 on the sides. The hinder leg, first on one 

 side and then on the other, was brought for- 

 ward under the arm, which was pressed down 

 upon it, and on the hinder limb being with- 

 drawn, its cuticle was left inverted under 

 the arm ; and that of the anterior extremity 

 was now loosened, and at length drawn off 

 by the assistance of the mouth. The whole 

 cuticle was thus detached, and was now 

 pushed by the two hands into the mouth in 

 a little ball, and swallowed at a single gulp, 

 I afterwards had repeated opportunities of 

 watching this curious process, which did not 

 materially vary in any instance." 



" The Toad becomes torpid during the 

 winter, and chooses for its retreat gome re- 

 tired and sheltered hole, a hollow tree, or a 

 space amongst large stones, or some such 

 place, and there remains until the return of 

 spring calls it again into a state of life and 

 activity. Its food consists of insects and 

 worms, of almost every kind. It refuses 

 food which is not living, and, indeed, will 

 only take it at the moment when it is in 

 motion. The Toad, when about to feed, 

 remains motionless, with its eyes turned di- 

 rectly forwards upon the object, and the head 

 a little inclined towards it, and in this at- 

 titude it remains until the insect moves j 

 when, by a stroke like lightning, the tongue 

 is thrown forward upon the victim, which 

 is instantly drawn into the mouth. So rapid 

 is this movement that it requires some little 

 practice as well as close observation to dis- 

 tinguish the different motions of the tongue. 

 Tliis organ is constructed as in the Frog, 

 being folded back upon itself; and the under 

 surface of the tip bein imbued with a viscid 

 mucoiis secretion, the insect is secured by its 

 adhesive quality. When the prey is taken 

 it is slightly pressed by the margins of the 

 jaw ; but as this seldom kills it, unless it be 

 a soft tender larva, it is generally swallowed 

 alive ; and I have often seen the muscles of 

 the Toad's sides twitch in a very curious 

 manner, from the tickling movements of a 

 hard coleopterous insect in the stomach." 

 [For the Surinam Toad, see PIPA : see also 



PlIKYMSCUS.] 



TODY. (Todus.) A genus of Scan serial 

 birds, principally natives of the warmer 

 parts of America, and nearly similar to the 

 Kingfishers in their general form. They 

 are characterized by a peculiar flatness or 

 deprcssiou of the beak, which is blunt at the 



