1718 The Zoologist — June, 1869. 



which they can sit with their heads out, and, as their name (calaraita) 

 implies, among reeds very often. I see now why their eyes are so 

 much brighter by night than by day, as they are evidently nocturnal 

 in their habits; but until this time I had always caught them on hot, 

 sunny days going about the heath in pairs." — ' Science Gossip^ i. 111. 



1 scarcely agree with my friend in his conclusion that their bright 

 eyes indicate nocturnal habits, or indeed that the species is nocturnal 

 at all until perfectly mature ; for the first year of its existence it is 

 most decidedly a lover of the sunshine. 



The peculiar scent of the Natterjack has been observed by all 

 naturalists : Shaw calls it mephitic ; Lord Clermont speaks of it as a 

 strong sulphury odour; Roesel says the smell resembles that of 

 orpiment or arsenic in a stale of evaporation ; this author also con- 

 nects this smell with the poisonous exudation, and tells us that it can 

 eject the fluid to a distance of three or four feet, and that if the poison 

 fall on any part of a room where the creature is kept the scent will be 

 perceived for two months afterwards. These statements I have never 

 verified. 



The appearance of a Natterjack when at rest is almost exactly 

 similar to that of a toad; the only striking difference is in the pre- 

 sence of the mediodorsal stripe, but no sooner does the creature com- 

 mence action than a manifest discrepancy is observable: the toad 

 progresses by a series of short and apparently laborious jumps, at 

 each descent falling flat on its belly; the Natieijack's mode of pro- 

 gression resembles that of a huge spider, being a rapid run, and the 

 belly being kept clear of the ground : in this run it continually stops, 

 also like a spider, as if to rest. 1 have never seen the creature make 

 the slightest attempt to jump. I have paid great attention to these 

 interesting animals ever since the year 1826, when I first observed 

 them on Blackheath : in 1841 I brought some from that locality to 

 my little garden at Peckham, where they soon established themselves 

 in subterranean galleries, which they occupied for many years; every 

 night they made predacious excursions, and were frequently detected 

 wending their way home some hours after daylight, when they were 

 ver}' apt to be picked up and handled by the children, into whom no 

 wholesome fear of fire and poison-spitting on the part of frogs and 

 toads had ever been instilled : it is certainly an unwonted sight to see 

 a little girl of two years of age taking up a huge toad or a natterjack, 

 and fondling him as a very nice playfellow. 



