116 OUR EEPTILES. 



the fluid, it cannot be employed as a means of 

 attack. According to M. Moquin Tandon, it is 

 a thick, viscid, milky fluid, with a slight yellow 

 tint, and poisonous odour. It has a disagreeable 

 caustic, bitter taste ; becomes solid on exposure 

 to air, and assumes the form of scales when 

 placed on glass.* M. Pelletier affirms that its 

 acrid properties are due to the presence of an 

 acid. MM. Gratiolet and Cloez performed with 

 it some experiments on birds, such as linnets 

 and finches, which were inoculated with the 

 fluid, and died in about six minutes. They were 

 not convulsed, but opened their beaks, and 

 staggered as if in a state of drunkenness. In 

 a short time they closed their eyes as if falling 

 to sleep, and fell down dead. The same gentle- 

 man also ascertained that when a small quantity 

 of the fluid was introduced beneath the skin of 

 such mammalia as the dog or goat, it caused 

 death in less than an hour. 



M. Vulpian repeated these and similar experi- 

 ments, both with the common toad and the 

 natterjack. He inoculated dogs and guinea- 

 pigs, and found that they died in from half an 

 hour to an hour and a half. This fluid acts also 

 as a poison on frogs, and generally kills them in 

 the course of an hour ; it is sufficient to apply it 



'" Moquin Tandon's " Medical Zoology," p. 287. 



