130 OUR REPTILES. 



compound, after the original meaning and deri- 

 vation had been forgotten. This word is clearly 

 derived from the German ' ' tod " and " stuhl," 

 meaning " death- stool/' in reference to the 

 poisonous nature of some, and the supposed 

 dangerous character of others, of the stalked 

 fungi, and, despite our woodcut, has nothing 

 whatever to do with toads, as commonly supposed. 



In Norfolk those fungi which in other localities 

 are commonly called "toadstools," are called 

 " toads'-caps," according to some orthography ; 

 but as we have heard it, " toad-skeps." Any 

 one who may converse with farm labourers, or 

 their children, about any of the Agarics, except 

 the common mushroom and the Horse mushroom, 

 will hear no other name for them than " toad- 

 skeps." The etymology of this cognomen is to 

 us very obscure, although conversant with the 

 local dialect. The large wicker baskets, holding 

 a bushel, and which are extensively used in East 

 Norfolk, are there called " skeps " but what 

 connection there is between a toad and a bushel 

 basket is to us as much a problem as the asso- 

 ciation of a toad and a side-pocket, another East 

 Anglian allusion equally classical and inexplicable. 



The body of the toad is broad, thick, very much 

 swollen; the head large, with the crown much 

 flattened ; muzzle obtuse and rounded ; gape very 

 wide ; no teeth either on the jaws or the palate ; 



