OF HARTING. 301 



while others implore us to dismiss such a notion as an 

 idle prejudice, we believe the truth may be found 

 somewhere between the two extremes. The skin on 

 the back of the toad is thickly dotted with small 

 glands, which secrete a fluid so acrid, that we have 

 many times seen Rover playfully and unsuspectingly 

 " lift" one of these animals, and, as if he all at once 

 became conscious of having made a mistake, instantly 

 drop it again with a grimace expressive of the most 

 intense disgust. But he was not to be let off thus 

 easily, for more than half-an-hour afterwards he would 

 champ his teeth, foam copiously at the mouth, and 

 violently and repeatedly shake his head and paw his 

 muzzle to get rid of the offensive matter. When we 

 know that the larger glands at the back of the head of 

 the toad under pressure, can be made to spurt out the 

 fluid they secrete to some distance, we cannot be 

 surprised at Rover's experience, we may even accept 

 the fact as an excuse for the popular notion that the 

 toad "spits," although we have never seen it do so. 

 Our independent observations end here, but we may 

 add that if the acrid secretion from the glands of the 

 toad be introduced under the skin of some other 

 animals, a condition which can never occur through 

 the instrumentality of the toad itself, fatal conse- 

 quences ensue in a longer or shorter time, according 

 to the size of the animal operated upon. This fact is 

 said to have been elicited in a course of experiments 

 carried on by eminent French naturalists. On the 

 other hand, it is not difficult to show that the toad 

 possesses no offensive weapon with which it could in- 

 flict a wound ; and we have heard of toads being 

 repeatedly handled with perfect impunity by persons 

 in this country, including tender-skinned ladies, who 

 have kept them as pets, and from all accounts found 

 them very interesting ones. With these facts before 

 us, we certainly cannot deny that the toad secretes a 

 very irritating fluid ; and perhaps we should not be 



