JULY 129 



widely spread that the toad spits poison ; it is regarded 

 in some places as a harbinger of ill luck ; and it was 

 accused of old, not only of sucking the udders of cows, 

 but of destroying their power of yielding milk for ever 

 after. It is to be hoped that in the present stage of 

 our knowledge of natural history every intelligent 

 person has dismissed these charges as absolutely 

 groundless. 



Nevertheless Bufo has one very effective means of 

 defence, whereof one of the correspondents of the 

 Gentleman's Magazine gives apt illustration : 



' I was much inclined,' he says, ' to think that a vulgar 

 prejudice had loaded the toad with undeserved obloquy ; but 

 some doubts were raised in my mind by the following inci- 

 dent. A young spaniel took up in his mouth a large toad 

 which had crept into my study during the night. As he was 

 carrying it away, he suddenly threw it down, ran about the 

 room seemingly in great pain, foamed very much at the 

 mouth, and showed every symptom of violent anguish. 

 These continued for more than an hour, till some warm milk 

 was brought to him, after drinking which he appeared quite 

 recovered in a very short time, and no further effects 

 ensued.' 



That young spaniel had learnt his lesson, and it 

 would have been impossible to induce either him or 

 any other dog, after similar experience, to tackle a toad. 

 For although the toad is wholly incapable of spitting or 

 otherwise discharging poison aggressively, it carries a 

 quantity of strong milky venom, stored in the glandular 

 warts with which its skin is thickly set, and this flows 

 out freely if the creature is bruised or wounded. The 

 toad itself has no control over the flow of poison, which 

 i 



