38 THE COMMON TOAD. 



hiding places, and then crawl about in such incon- 

 ceivable numbers as almost literally to touch each 

 other, and to hide the surface of the earth : on such 

 occasions it is impossible to stir out of doors with- 

 out trampling them underfoot at every step*. 



The female Toads deposit their spawn early in 

 the spring, in the form of necklace-like chains or 

 strings of beautifully transparent gluten, three or 

 four feet in length, inclosing the ova in a double 

 series throughout. These have the appearance of 

 so many jet-black globules: they are, however, no- 

 thing more than the larvae or tadpoles lying in a glo- 

 bular form. These break from their confinement in 

 about a fortnight, and afterwards undergo changes 

 very similar to the tadpoles of the frog. They 

 become complete about the beginning of autumn, 

 when the young animals are frequently to be seen 

 in immense multitudes. 



When it is irritated, the Toad emits from various 

 parts of its skin a kind of frothy fluid that, in our 

 climate, produces no further unpleasant symptoms 

 than slight inflammation, from its weakly acrimo- 

 nious nature. Dogs, on seizing these animals, ap- 

 pear to be affected with a slight swelling in their 

 mouth, accompanied by an increased evacuation of 

 saliva. The limpid fluid which the Toad sud- 

 denly ejects from his body, when disturbed, has 

 been ascertained to be perfectly free from any 

 noxious qualities whatever : it is merely a watery 



* La Cepede ii. a8o. 



