EASY-CHAIR MEMORIES 133 



with a stag-beetle before. He was perfectly 

 terrified. That alderman with a highwayman's 

 pistol" Stand and deliver ! "at his head 

 could not have been more astonished or 

 frightened. The way he turned his head and 

 glanced round to get one look at his enemy, 

 and then precipitately dropped into his hole, 

 presented a truly comical scene. The fierce 

 look and ugly claws of that beetle made him 

 think, perhaps, of the " precious jewel " that 

 he carried in his head, and that the beetle 

 wanted it, and so he discreetly disappeared. 

 Let me say a good word for toads in general \ 

 they have always suffered from misrepresenta- 

 tion and persecution. In the old days they 

 were associated with witches and sorcerers, and 

 have been condemned as disgusting, odious, 

 venomous creatures the truth being that they 

 are not venomous. Gilbert White has not 

 much to say about toads, but he says, " The 

 venom of toads has not yet been proved." 

 There seems now to be no doubt the toad 

 does produce a highly-nauseous secretion from 

 its skin, which is most unpleasant to other 

 animals, but it is not venomous. Notwith- 

 standing his reputation for evil-doing, the toad 



