46 ORIGIN OF THE SILVER EEL. 



up at his door, to see what I had brought 

 him. 



As time wore on, he would follow me 

 down to the summer-seat, and catch flies 

 before me. This he did in a manner that I 

 could not account for. When he got his 

 eye on a fly, the insect could not take wing ; 

 he then quietly approached his victim, keep- 

 ing his eyes steadily fixed upon it ; and when 

 within an inch of it, he opened his mouth 

 quickly, and in went the fly. His mouth 

 closed with a smack so quickly as to be 

 scarcely perceptible. My conviction is, that 

 he possessed some fascinating power in his 

 eye, which affected the fly ; and also that at 

 a certain distance he could exert a power of 

 suction sufficient to draw the fly into his 

 mouth just as I have seen a perch below a 

 boat in clear water, draw in a worm-bait 

 three inches from its mouth, and when it felt 

 the hook, eject it to the distance of six. 



Another striking incident in this toad's 

 life came under my notice. I was one day 

 sitting in the garden, with my dog beside 

 me, when down came Oberon and crawled 

 upon my foot. The dog, in frolic, and 



