458 CLASS REPTILIA. 



vegetables, fruits, mushroons, &c., that they produced vomit- 

 ing. It appears certain, however, that when these fluids 

 have been swallowed, they have produced violent nausea, 

 and other unpleasant stomachic affections. This is not very 

 surprising, and may perhaps, be partly explained by the 

 association of ideas. M. Bosc, however, tells us, that if 

 during the heat of summer, any one, after having handled 

 the common toad, puts his hand to his nose, he will be trou- 

 bled with the same unpleasant symptoms. Schelhammer 

 relates an anecdote of a child, who had a severe pustulous 

 eruption, in consequence of another child having held a toad 

 for som.e minutes before its mouth. 



The cutaneous fluid of the toads is yellowish, of an oily 

 consistence, capable of concretion by exposure to the air, and 

 of a very bitter, acrid, and caustic taste. Tincture of corona 

 solis it will turn red, of a deep hue, and it forms an emulsion 

 Avith water. It appears to contain an acid partly free, and 

 partly combined to a basis, which is a very bitter and fatty 

 substance, and an animal matter which has some analogy 

 with gelatine. 



In the countries where the temperature is cold, the toads 

 pass the winter in the holes of rocks, often united in great 

 numbers. In the United States, they have been frequently 

 found thus benumbed by cold, in the same holes which were 

 occupied by rattlesnakes. 



As soon as the warmth of spring begins to be felt, the 

 toads repair in crowds to the waters in their neighbourhood 

 for the purpose of engendering. The union of the male and 

 female subsists for a longer or shorter time according to the 

 season, from two, to upwards of twenty days. They then 

 croak perpetually, and the male repulses other males with his 

 hinder feet. When there are more males than females in one 

 marsh, they unite in numbers around a couple, and wait 

 until the female lays her eggs. When the eggs appear they 

 are fecundated by the male. They are then, in general. 



