OF NATURAL HISTORY. 137 



inent or air ; efpecially as, like all other animals, when put 

 into an exhaufted receiver, the toad foon lofes its exiftence. 

 Upon this fubjedl I fhall only hazard two obfervations. The 

 toad, it is well known, when kept in a damp place, can live 

 feveral months without food of any kind, though, in its ftate 

 of natural liberty, it devours voracioufly fpiders, maggots, 

 ants, and other infects. Here we have an inftance, and there' 

 are many, of an animal whofe conftitution is fo framed by 

 Nature, that it can exift. feveral months without receiving 

 any portion of food. According to our ideas of the necefiity 

 of frequent fupplies of nourishment, it is nearly as difficult 

 for us to conceive an abftinence of four or fix months as one 

 of as many years, or even centuries. The one fasSl, therer 

 fore, though we are unable to account for either, may be as 

 readily admitted as the other. The fame remark is equally 

 applicable to the regular refpiration of air. The toad, and 

 many other animals, from fome peculiarity in their confii- 

 tution, can live very long in a torpid ftate without fecming 

 to refpire, and yet their principle of life is not entirely extinr 

 guifhed. Hence the toad may, and adlually does, live many 

 years in fituations which exclude a free intercourfe v/ith the 

 external air. Befides, almoft all the above, and fimiiar fadls, 

 mufb, from their nature, have been difcovered by commou 

 labourers, who are totally unqualified for examining every 

 circumftance with the difcerning eye of a philofopher. In 

 rocks there are many chinks, as well as filTures, both hori- 

 zontal and perpendicular ; and in old trees nothing is more 

 frequent than holes and vacuities of different dimenfions,. 

 Through thefe fifTures and vacuities the eggs of toads may ac- 

 cidentally be conveyed by water, the penetration of whick 

 few fubftances are capable of refifting. After the eggs ar^ 

 hatched, the animals may receive moifture, and fmall por^ 

 tions of air, through the crevices of rocks, or the channel* 

 ^f aged trees. But I mean not to perfuade j for I canuoi 



