466 BEAUTY IN THE ANIMAL CREATION. 



The toad,* that poor, despised, and harmless reptile, is admirable 

 in its proportions, and has an eye of such trancendent beauty, that 

 when I find one, I place it on my hand, to view it more minutely. 

 Its skin too, completely adapted to the subterraneous places into 

 which it goes for shelter, is well worthy the attention of the philo- 

 sopher. As this little animal is innocuous, I feel sorry when I see 

 it trampled underfoot by inconsiderate people, who have learned 

 from their grandmothers that it is full of venom ; and I wish from 

 my heart, that the nineteenth century would produce something 

 more satisfactory than that which we possess at present relative to 

 the habits of toads and snakes. We have a large species of wasp 

 in Demerara, called Maribunta, much more severe with its sting 

 than our English wasp \ still, when I used to put down one of these 

 to a toad which I had in a little out-house, the toad would come and 

 swallow it alive, both with avidity and impunity. 



Who can look without rapture on the beautiful proportions of the 

 horse ? His mane, hanging down a well-formed neck, seems a counter- 

 balance to his long flowing tail as he moves along ; and we are all of us 

 aware of what amazing advantage this last-mentioned appendage is to 

 this noble beast when a host of flies are ready to devour him. In fact, 

 there is no putting a sufficient value on this ornamental part j for, 

 whilst he is left in the full possession of it, he can effectually scourge 

 his tormentors, which never fail to attack those places extending 

 beyond the reach of his mouth and hoofs. But man, wanton and 

 unthinking man, the slave to fashion and caprice, has cruelly deprived 

 his best and most useful friend amongst the quadrupeds of this great 

 advantage which nature had so kindly given him ; and now we see 

 him, in summer, stung and tormented at every step by blood-thirsty 

 insects, from which he cannot free himself by any process short of 

 rolling on the ground. What, in the name of form and feature, could 

 ever have persuaded Englishmen that the fine flowing mane of their 

 horses was a nuisance, which ought to be reduced; or that the appear- 

 ance of these superb animals could be improved by docking their 



* In one of Waterton's note-books is written: April 21, 1849. This day 1 

 took up a flower-pot in which I had incarcerated three toads with a little soil. 

 I found them all alive. Two of them were much bleached, the other was very 

 black. I turned them loose to enjoy the spring. 



