714 REPTILIA — TOAD. 



found out a retreat, or having dug themselves one with their mouth and 

 hands, they lead a patient, solitary life, seldom venturing out, except when 

 the moisture of a summer's evening invites them abroad. Al that time the 

 grass is filled w^ith snails, and the pathways covered with worms, which 

 make their principal food. Insects also, of every kind, they are fond of; 

 and we have the authority of Linnceus for it, that they sometimes continue 

 immoveable, Avith the mouth open, at the bottom of shrubs, where the but- 

 terflies, in some measure fascinated, are seen to fly down their throats. 



The toad, contrary to vulgar prejudice, is a harmless, defenceless creature, 

 torpid and unvenomous, and seeking the darkest retreats, not from the malig- 

 nity of its nature, but the multitude of its enemies. 



Like all of the frog kind, the toad is torpid in winter. It chooses then for 

 a retreat either the hollow root of a tree, the cleft of a rock, or sometimes 

 the bottom of a pond, where it is found in a state of seeming insensibility. 

 As it is very long-lived, it is very difficult to be killed ; its skin is tough, and 

 cannot be easily pierced ; and, though covered with wounds, the animal 

 continues to show signs of life, and every part appeals in motion. But 

 what shall we say to its living for centuries lodged in the bosom of a rock, 

 or cased within the body of an oak tree, without the smallest access on any 

 side, either for nourishment or air, and yet taken out alive and perfect ! 

 Stories of this kind, it would be as rash to contradict, as it is difficult to be- 

 lieve ; we have the highest authorities bearing witness to their truth, and 

 yet, the whole analogy of nature seems to arraign them of falsehood. 

 Bacon asserts, that toads are found in this manner ; Dr Plot asserts the 

 same ; there is, to this day, a marble chimney-piece at Chatsworth, with the 

 print of the toad upon it, and tradition of the manner in which it was found. 

 In the Memoirs of the Academy of Sciences, there is an account of a toad 

 found alive and healthy in the heart of a very thick elm, without the small- 

 est entrance or egress. In the year 1731, there was another found near 

 Nantz, in the heart of an old oak, without the smallest issue to its cell ; and 

 the discoverer was of opinion, from the size of the tree, that the animal could 

 not have been confined there less than eighty or a hundred years, Avithout 

 sustenance and without air. 



Of this animal there are several varieties ; such as the water and the land 

 toad, which probably differ only in the ground color of their skin. 



THE SURINAM TOAD.i 



This animal is in form more hideous than even the common toad. The 

 body is flat and broad ; the head small ; the jaws, like those of the mole, 



1 Pipa Surinamensis, Shaw. TIip characteristics of this genus, are a body flattened 

 horizontally ; head large and triangular ; tongue wanting ; tympanum concealed under the 

 skin ; eyes small, towards the margin of the upper jaw ; toes of the fore feet cleft into 

 four small points ; larj'nx of the male very long, triangular. 



