1710 The Zoologist — June, 1869. 



of this ecdysis in the toad is from the pen of Mr. William Turner : 

 I transcribe it entire. 



" I have a small house under my care for growing cucumbers ; there 

 is a bed in the middle of it, and the soil is about three feet high from 

 the ground (i. e. to the top of the hills where the plants are in) ; 

 a person, therefore, standing in the house can examine an object 

 placed on the hill with ease. Last Saturday, about seven o'clock, a.m., 

 I uncovered the house and went in to see that all was right, when, to 

 my surprise, I saw my pet companion, a fine toad, apparently in the 

 agonies of death. It was seated at tlie end of the hill of soil ; its 

 mouth, or rather under jaw, opened every few seconds (the top jaw 

 did not move), the eyes sliut, and the body violently convulsed each 

 time the jaw opened; and with each convulsion of the body the right 

 fore foot was raised to the head : I placed myself in front of it, and 

 perceived it was drawing something into its mouth each time the jaw 

 moved; at that instant the right eye opened; it then inflated the 

 body on the left side and drew in the riglit, placing at the same time 

 the left fore-foot on the head behind the eye, and drawing it down to 

 the mouth ; it next appeared to hold its foot in its mouth for about a 

 second, which it then drew out, and I distinctly saw the three points 

 of skin that came off its toes outside its lips, till the next opening of 

 the jaw, when they were drawn into the mouth. When it drew its 

 foot over its left eye (which before was shut) it broke out as bright as 

 ever. Some folds of the skin adhered to the left leg, but by two or 

 three motions of the jaw they were gone, and in about a minute the 

 skin was drawn off the lips: the toad had eaten its own skin, and 

 there it stood with its new covering as bright as if it had been fresh 

 varnished. I endeavoured to touch it to feel if it was clammy, but 

 the creature gave a vigorous jump and the soil adhered to its legs: 

 I looked at it an hour afterwards, but it had begun to assume its 

 dingy brown colour. The time it took to get off its head-dress was 

 only a few minutes : it appeared to me that each time its jaw opened, 

 it drew the skin forward, while it distended the body on the side to be 

 uncovered." — Zool. 2855. 



Mr. Bell, in a communication made to the Zoological Club of the 

 Linnean Society, and also in his ' British Reptiles,' not only gives a 

 very similar account, but adds such interesting particulars that I need 

 make no apology for extracting the narrative : — 



" Having often found, amongst several toads which I was then 

 keeping for the purpose of observing their habits, some of brighter 



