REPTILES. 5 1 1 



One winter, by some accident, a toad was sent up to London in 

 the hamper containing the vegetals for the house. Master Blanchet, the 

 cat, which always investigated the Wallington basket, was down upon 

 the toad in an instant, and by chance scratched out one of its eyes. 

 The poor toad, on being speedily rescued from the claws of the 

 cat, was placed in a Ward's case in my dining-room, where it soon 

 became perfectly tame, and was fed upon black beetles specially caught 

 for that purpose. It is an interesting fact that this toad, deprived 

 of one eye, did not strike its prey so well as toads usually do. In 

 a natural state toads strike their prey with the rapidity of lightning ; 

 they fix their two eyes upon the insect, by which they appear to judge 

 of its exact distance, then they protrude the tongue with a velocity 

 almost too great for the eye to follow, and carry the creature into their 

 mouth. The toad, however, cannot reach its prey from so great a 

 distance as the chameleon, which, after it has ogled its victim, protrudes 

 a tongue six or eight inches "long, using it as an organ of prehension. 

 It is well to teach children to love and pet toads, so that they may 

 be their garden allies. 



My artist has copied the representations of the frog and of the 

 toad from the admirable figures of the Rev. J. G. Wood, who perhaps 

 has done more to promote a love of natural history amongst the multi- 

 tude than any man now living. 



I have tried to acclimatize the common Land Tortoise, but without 

 success. These creatures ramble far away in summer, and are lost. 

 They delight in yellow flowers, which they see and go after from a 

 considerable distance. One tortoise wandered away, and was killed 

 during the construction of the railroad a thousand yards off. I have 

 also tried to acclimatize the Water Tortoise, which is a flesh feeder. 

 Many have been imported into my garden, and as these creatures live 

 as far north as Germany there are reasonable hopes that I may ulti- 

 mately succeed, especially as some survived the severe winter of 1870. 

 Some of them have strayed to the road, where they have been captured 

 by boys, who are sad enemies to acclimatization. The water-tortoises 

 are very active, and on warm days come out of the water and sun 



