96 NATURAL HISTORY 



are not noxious to some animals is plain: for ducks, 

 buzzards, owls, stone curlews, and snakes, eat them, to 

 my knowledge, with impunity. And I well remember 

 the time, but was not eyewitness to the fact (though 

 numbers of persons were), when a quack, at this vil- 

 lage, ate a toad to make the country people stare; 

 afterwards he drank oil. 



I have been informed also, from undoubted authority, 

 that some ladies (ladies you will say of peculiar taste) 

 took a fancy to a toad, which they nourished, summer 

 after summer, for many years, till he grew to a mon- 

 strous size, with the maggots which turn to flesh ilirs. 

 The reptile used to come forth every evening from a 

 hole under the garden steps ; and was taken up, after 

 supper, on the table to be fed. But at last a tame 

 raven, kenning him as he put forth his head, gave him 

 such a severe stroke with his horny beak as put out one 

 eye. After this accident the creature languished for 

 some time and died 3 . 



water. The skin, however, has been ascertained by Dr. Davy to secrete 

 an acid liquid, not perhaps poisonous, but capable of producing an 

 uncomfortable sensation on the tongue; a secretion of somewhat similar 

 qualities is poured out on the surface of the common land salamander of 

 Europe. 



The aqueous fluid above mentioned, which is thrown out in consider- 

 able quantities by a frog or toad on being taken in the hand, is held in a 

 double bladder which opens into the cloaca : and this fact is connected 

 with the absorbing power of the skin. The cutaneous surface of these 

 animals is now known to serve the purposes of respiration ; but in order 

 to perform this function, it is necessary that it should be kept constant l\ 

 in a moist condition. When placed in water or in a sufficiently damp 

 situation, the surface of the body absorbs a considerable quantity of 

 water, which is conveyed to the receptacle above mentioned, there to 

 remain as in a reservoir for future use; and if the animal be exposed to 

 a dry atmosphere, the fluid is re-absorbed, and again secreted on the sur- 

 face of the skin, in order to keep up its respiratory function. This is the 

 true history of the poisonous liquid of toads, as it is considered, which 

 renders them the objects of dread and hatred to the ignorant of all parts 

 of the country. T. B. 



3 I have had a toad so tame, that when it was held in one hand, it would 

 take its food from the other held near it. The manner in which this 

 animal takes its prey is very interesting. The tongue, when at rest, is 



