THE COMMON TOAD. 521 



rooted. The popular notion is that the Toad is poisonous throughout 

 its life, but that after the age of fifty years it acquires venomous fangs 

 like those of the serpents. 



In point of fact, the Toad is a most useful animal, devouring all 

 kinds of insect vermin, and making its rounds by night when the slugs, 

 caterpillars, earwigs, and other creatures are abroad on their destruc- 

 tive mission. Many of the market-gardeners are so well aware of the 

 extreme value of the Toad's services that they purchase Toads at a cer- 

 tain sum per dozen, and turn them out in their grounds. 



Last year my children had several large Toads which were quite 

 tame. They used to carry the Toads in their hands round the garden, 

 and then hold them up to flowers on which insects had settled. The 

 Toads were quite accustomed to this mode of feeding, and always caught 

 the insects. 



Entomologists sometimes make a curious use of the Toad. Going 

 into the fields soon after daybreak, they catch all the Toads they can 

 find, kill them, and turn the contents of their stomachs into water. On 

 examining the mass of insects that are found in the stomach, and which 

 are floated apart on the water, there are almost always some specimens 

 of valuable insects, generally beetles, which, from their nocturnal habits, 

 small dimensions, and sober coloring, cannot readily be detected by 

 human eyes. 



The Toad will also eat worms, and in swallowing them it finds its 

 fore feet of great use. The worm is seized by the middle, and writhes 

 itself frantically into such contortions that the Toad would not be able 

 to swallow it but by the aid of its fore feet, which it uses as if they were 

 hands. Sitting quietly down with the worm in its mouth, the Toad 

 pushes it farther between the jaws, first with one paw and then with 

 another, until it succeeds by alternate gulps and pushes in forcing the 

 worm fairly down its throat. 



This animal is extremly tenacious of life, and is said to possess the 

 power of retaining life foi* an unlimited period if shut up in a com- 

 pletely air-tight cell. Many accounts«are in existence of Toads which 

 have been discovered in blocks of stone when split open, and the infer- 

 ence has been drawn that they were enclosed in the stone while it was 

 still in the liquid state, some hundreds of thousands of years ago, ac- 

 cording to the particular geological period, and had remained without 

 food or air until the stroke of the pick brought them once more to the 

 light of day. 



The development of the Toad is much like that of the Frog, except 

 that the eggs are not laid in masses, but in long strings, containing a 

 double series of eggs placed alternately. These chains are about three 

 or four feet in length and one-eighth of an inch in diameter. They 

 are deposited rather later than those of the Frog, and the reptiles, 



44* 



