58 TOADS FROGS. 



classes them among his oviparous animals, and is 

 silent with regard to the manner of their bringing 

 forth. Perhaps they may be tVw per woro/coi, t^w 

 Se ZWOTOKOL, as is known to be the case with the 

 viper *. 



The copulation of frogs (or at least the appear- 

 ance of it, for Swammerdam proves that the male 

 has no penis intrans,) is notorious to every body ; 

 because we see them sticking upon each other's 

 backs for a month together in the spring ; and yet 

 I never saw, or read, of toads being observed in 

 the same situation 2 . It is strange that the matter 

 with regard to the venom of toads has not been 

 yet settled. That they 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 an eye-witness to the fact, (though 

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

 village, ate a toad to make the country people 

 stare : afterwards he drank oil. 



1 Toads are oviparous. Mr. Bell of London, a zealous 

 ophiologist, has lately confirmed the fact recorded by Schnei- 

 der, that toads devour the skin which they shed. In one in- 

 stance, he witnessed the whole process of the shedding of the 

 cuticle: it became divided longitudinally along the back and 

 the abdomen ; by the action of the hinder leg on one side, the 

 skin was detached as far as the fore leg ; the same operation 

 was next effected on the other side. The loosened exuvia 

 were then drawn forward by the combined action of the 

 mouth and of the anterior legs, and were immediately swal- 

 lowed. Zool. Jour. Mr. Bell adfls, that in others of the 

 bactrachian reptiles, the ranee and salamandrtz, no swallow- 

 ing of the exuvicR took place. W. J. 



2 The copulation of frogs and toads is performed in the 

 same manner. The spermatic fluid is passed upon the ova 

 at the time they are expelled from the female. The ova 

 of the frog are laid in conglutinated masses ; those of the 

 toad in long chain-like strings. The ova of the latter are 

 also much smaller. W. J. 



