CLASS-BOOK OF ZOOLOGY. 103 



§ 436. Frogs can hardly be said to arrive at their full 

 size till about the age of five years, and they live at least 

 fifteen years. 



§ 437. Frogs are extremely tenacious of life. The 

 neart and entrails may be torn out of the body of a Frog 

 without appearing to cause the animal a great degree of 

 suffering, and without producing death until after the ex- 

 piration of some hours. The heart shows signs of sen- 

 sibility for many days after life has ceased in other parts. 



§ 438. The American Toad (Bufo Americanus) has a 

 thick swollen body, covered with numerous reddish 

 warts. It is found towards evening and during the night 

 in gardens, meadows, and fields, where it feeds on noxious 

 insects, caterpillars, and worms, and is therefore very 

 useful to man. It is met with in all parts of the United 

 States. 



§ 439. Toads, like frogs, in the early part of spring 

 deposit their spawn in the water, in the form of strings 

 three or four feet long : from these proceed the Tadpoles, 

 which live in the water ; and which, after several weeks, 

 are metamorphosed into their perfect state, when they 

 live on the land. 



5 440. The acrimonious fluid which the Toad exudes 

 from its warts is innoxious, and perfectly free from any 

 venomous property ; as is proved by the fact that it has 

 never produced any bad symptoms in animals that have 

 tasted or even swallowed it. 



§ 441. That Toads have been found in the heart of 

 solid rocks, and in the centre of growing trees, where 

 they had been entombed for centuries, without air or sus- 

 tenance of any kind, is entirely contradictory to the nature 

 of this animal, which cannot live for any considerable 

 length of time without food and air. Such accounts, it 

 is most likely, have their origin in the love of the mar- 

 vellous, and in the neglect of a minute inspection, at the 

 moment, of the parts surrounding the spot where it was 

 discovered. 



§ 442. That the Toad is not able to live without air 

 and food any considerable time, was proved by the fol- 

 lowing experiments : Three Toads were enclosed in as 



