ORDER BATRACHIA. 451 



The Toads are easily distinguished from the two preced- 

 ing subgenera, as the parotids are wanting in the latter, and 

 their hinder feet are longer than the body. They are also 

 easily distinguished from the pipas which have the toes 

 free, and want the tongue altogether. It must however be 

 granted that the greatest relations subsist between them and 

 the frogs, to which they were united by Linnaeus, whose 

 example has been followed by the majority of naturalists. 

 Many frogs have the hinder feet considerably shortened. 

 Many have also the body covered with tubercles. The pre- 

 sence of parotids appears, in fact, to be the only distinctive 

 character, that can be relied on with any degree of cer- 

 tainty. 



The word hufo, is one of considerable antiquity in the 

 Latin language. Inuntusque cavis bufo, says Virgil, in the 

 first book of the Geormcs. Hermolaus thinks that this 

 name was bestowed on the toad from the faculty possessed 

 by this animal of swelling itself when angry, and uttering a 

 hissing sound resembling a sigh. The Greeks seem to have 

 designated the toad by the word ij.vo^ovi although Scaliger 

 thinks this an error, and by the words (Pfwog, and i3ciTpcix,og iXnov 

 (Marsh-frog). Of the French word crapaud, the origin 

 is not known, and our word toad is Saxon. 



The toads have, in all ages, and in all nations, been re- 

 garded as revolting and disgusting animals. They are 

 universally considered as repulsive, and even sometimes are 

 objects of horror. They are usually believed to be venom- 

 ous, and in consequence of this prejudice are subjected to 

 general proscription and extermination. We shall soon see, 

 however, that these animals are comparatively harmless, that 

 the study of their organization involves much interest, and 

 that their history presents a crowd of facts, equally curious 

 and important. 



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