GREEN TOAD 333 



may hold its prey fast, and by the help of its fore-legs, which are in the water, 

 tearing pieces from the body of its victim and devouring them. It will attack 

 frogs sunning themselves on the surface of the water or watching for prey, seizing 

 them suddenly from below by the hind-legs, and in this way pulling them to 

 the bottom, where it will devour the limb of its victim, tearing it off with the 

 help of its own fore-legs, and then proceed to attack the body. Newts, tadpoles, 

 worms, snails, and water-insects give but little trouble; the invertebrate animals 

 caught on land are seized from above and carried into the water, where alone 

 they can be swallowed ; and even quite young tortoises will run into the water 

 with worms they have caught on land. 



A short time after pairing — which takes place on awakening from the winter 

 sleep about May, and during which the pond-tortoise frequently utters a strange 

 hissing sound, something like leech — the female lays from fifteen to thirty eggs 

 as large as those of a pigeon, of oval shape, and enclosed in a greyish white 

 calcareous shell, which hardens soon after they have been deposited. The eggs 

 are laid in a hole about 2 inches wide which has been dug with the tail and 

 hind-legs and narrows towards the base. They are laid in the latter half of May 

 or June, and are covered with earth, and left to themselves, requiring probably for 

 development a period of from two to three months. When the young are hatched, 

 they at once seek the water, remaining on or near the bank and feeding at first 

 on small water-insects, worms, or snails. 



Among the tailless amphibians of aquatic habits, the green toad 

 Green Toad. . f . l ^ . .' ° 



{■Bujo viridis) is distinctly an eastern species, ranging, however, as 



far west as the Rhine, and found in many parts of Germany in common with 



the natterjack, which it has quite supplanted in the districts east of the Vistula. 



Northwards it ranges up to Skagen in Jutland, the island of Gothland, and to 



56° N. latitude in central Paissia and 52° in Siberia. In the south it is to 



be met with in the whole of northern Africa, from Morocco to Egypt, as well as 



in Palestine and the south of Persia ; the eastern boundary of its area cannot be 



stated with certainty but certainly extends to Mongolia. From Spain, Portugal, 



France, Belgium, Holland, Great Britain, and Ireland, this toad is absent, but it is 



generally distributed in Germany, where it is met with both in the plains and hills, 



everywhere frequenting wide valleys and stagnant waters. In the Alps it reaches 



a height of 3600 feet, and in the Himalaya is found at 15,000 feet. 



Not particular about the nature of the soil, this toad is limited to the vicinity 



of marshes, backwaters, ditches, and pools, and remains in the water, not only during 



spawning-time — which in Germany is chiefly in May — but for some time after, until 



about the end of June, while it visits the water off and on all through the summer. 



On dry days later in the season it remains hidden near the water, either under the roots 



of trees and stones, in the crevices of old damp walls, in stone-heaps and holes in the 



earth, in ditches in the roads and fields, in gardens, or sometimes in vaults and cellars. 



At night and on damp sultry days these toads hop about in gardens, fields, meadows, 



fallow lands, or on railway embankments ; the young, which are more diurnal than 



nocturnal in their habits, being often seen in such situations. Wandering over a 



fairly large tract of country, the green toad runs comparatively fast, hops like a frog, 



