NATURAL HISTORY OF REPTILES. 



CHAPTER I 



M Some say the lark and loathed toad change eyes." 



Shakspeare. 

 " Like a falfn cedar, far diffused his train, 

 Cased in green scales, the crocodile extend?.*' 



Thomson, 



We shall now glance at a race not less numerous, and scarcely 

 less various, than that of fishes. This is the reptile race, of 

 which the almost innumerable tribes may be comprehended under 

 the frog, toad, lizard, and serpent kinds. However uninteresting 

 many of these may appear, or however disgusting their figure 

 may seem to fastidious delicacy, the great Author of Nature has 

 undoubtedly created them for a wise and good purpose. We 

 are too little acquainted with their habits, propensities, and gen- 

 eral economy, to be fully able to estimate their utility ; but their 

 importance in the scale of being is well known to Him who hag 

 made nothing in vain. 



THE TOAD AND THE FROG 



Are universally known, and the frequent opportunities which 

 every one has of viewing them, preclude the necessity of de- 

 scription. Their history, however, is sufficiently curious, if the 

 conciseness of our plan would admit of minute investigation. 



In their figure, these two animals have a considerable resem- 

 blance ; but custom and prejudice have taught us to make a very 

 different estimate of their properties : the first is considered as 

 perfectly harmless, while the latter is supposed to be poisonous. 

 In tills respect, the toad has been treated with great injustice : 

 it is a torpid, harmless animal, that passes the greatest part of 

 the winter in sleep. 



Astonishing stories have been told of toads found in the centre 

 of solid blocks of stone, and other similar situations, without the 

 least trace of the way by which they entered, and without any 

 possibility of their finding any kind of nutriment. Without pre- 

 tending to decide on the authenticity of these relations, we may 

 venture to say, that if the truth of such singular circumstances be 

 admitted, they exhibit a manifest violation of the laws of Nature 



