NATURALIST'S 



Capable of being tamed. 



it among the superstitious so many preternatural 

 powers, that the reputed dealers in magic art are 

 reported to have made much use of it in their 

 compounds. 



The female toads deposit their spawn early in 

 the spring, in the form of necklace-like chains 

 or strings of beautifully transparent gluten, three 

 or four feet in length, inclosing the ova in a 

 double series throughout. These have the ap- 

 pearance of so many jet-black globules; they 

 are, however, nothing more than the larvae, or 

 tadpoles, lying in a globular form. These break 

 from their confinement in about a fortnight, 

 and afterwards undergo changes very similar ta 

 the tadpoles of the frog. They become complete 

 about the beginning of autumn, when the young 

 animals are frequently to be seen in immense 

 multitudes. 



These animals, singular as it may appear, cart 

 be rendered so very tame, that they may be 

 taken in the hand, and carried about a room to 

 catch the flies that alight on the walls. Mr. 

 Pennant received from a correspondent some 

 curious particulars of a domestic toad, which 

 frequented the steps before the hall door of a 

 gentleman's house in Devonshire. By being 

 constantly fed it became so free, as always to 

 come out of its hole in an evening when a candle 

 was brought, and look up, as if expecting to be 

 carried into the bouse, where it was frequently 

 fed with insects. An animal that is so generally 



