THE TOAD. 123 



The common toad is popularly looked upon as 

 being venomous. This is an error, as it is, in fact, 

 a harmless and timid creature, and very useful in 

 gardens. It feeds chiefly upon insects, which it 

 catches with the most singular dexterity. Crouch- 

 ed behind a cabbage-leaf, it watches attentively till 

 a fly settles within its reach, when in an instant, it 

 jerks out its long tongue, and very seldom fails to 

 strike it. This is done so quickly, that the eye 

 can hardly perceive the motion. To secure the 

 insect, its tongue is covered with a thick glutinous 

 saliva, very sticky, and which holds it, as if it were 

 bird-lime. The eye of the toad is particularly 

 bright and beautiful, so much so indeed, that it has 

 been said to "wear a jewel " in its head. It is ca- 

 pable of being tamed, and rendered quite familiar. 



The salamanders have a lengthened body, four 

 feet, and a long tail, which gives them the general 

 form of lizards, and they were formerly placed in 

 that order ; but they have all the characters of the 

 frogs. 



The name of the salamander, says Lacepede, has 

 been celebrated from antiquity, and embellished 

 with the tints of fable in all ages. It was on the 

 fortunate soil of ancient Greece, in the bosom of a 

 wise and warlike nation, whose imagination, fa- 

 voured by a happy climate, exaggerated even the 

 wonders of creative power, that the reputation of 

 the salamander originated, and that an immortal 

 and generally adopted name was employed to cha- 

 racterize a small reptile, which has usurped the 



