ORDER BATRACHIA. 461 



almost all naturalists, and, indeed, to common observation, 

 that this toad shuns the water, and lays its eggs in places 

 near subterraneous sources. 



The common toad walks slowly, and leaps but little. It 

 lives in general about fifteen y^ars, and produces at four 

 years of age. Its cry has some relation to the barking of a 

 dog. Sometimes, during the summer, it makes a feeble 

 croaking at the entrance of its hole, which it gives over as 

 soon as any one approaches. 



The hufo calamita lives in the temperate regions of Europe, 

 and particularly in the mountains. It is common enough in 

 France. It undergoes all its metamorphoses in the water, 

 and afterwards inhabits dry places, the clefts of walls, the 

 holes of rocks, and passes the winter there in a lethargic state, 

 and sometimes in small numbers. In Saxony it is common in 

 the houses. 



It lives on land, never leaps, but runs tolerably swift. 

 It climbs on walls and trees, to conceal itself in their holes ; 

 and to assist it in this sort of movement, it has two small 

 osseous tubercles under the palm of the hand. It never goes 

 to the water but for the purpose of reproduction, which takes 

 place in spring. 



The cry of the male resembles that of the hyla viridis^ 

 and is produced by means of a vesicle placed at the entrance 

 of the throat. 



This batracian is said to shed a very strong odour of 

 gunpowder. 



The brown toad {rana bombina), which leaps tolerably 

 well, sojourns, by preference, in the neighbourhood of fresh 

 and stagnant waters in the south of Europe. It sheds a very 

 strong odour of garlic when disturbed. The croaking of the 

 male resembles that of the green frog, and the female utters a 

 feeble grunting noise. Its eggs come from the body in a 

 single cord, but thicker than the two cords on which the 

 eggs of the common toad are strung. The tadpole has but 



