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. At that time the 
grass is filled with 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 Linneus for it, that they sometimes continue 
immoveable, with 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 appears 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 himdred years, without 
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. 
Tus animal is m form more hideous than even the commontoad. The 
body is flat and broad; the head small; the jaws, like those of the mole, 
1 Pipa Surinamensis, Suaw. The 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; larynx of the male verv long. triangular. 
