727 A. EF. Verrill—The Bermuda Islands. 315 
in 1898. During the breeding season, in early spring, they often 
get into water tanks, and being unable to escape, die there and spoil 
the water. The eggs are also laid in the brackish water of the 
marshes and will develop in such places, though the species seems to 
prefer fresh water for its eggs, when available. A large female will 
lay an enormous number of eggs. 
This toad has long ago been introduced into many of the West 
Indies from South America. It has a wide range, from southern 
Mexico to Brazil and Argentine. In Barbadoes and Jamaica it is 
valued because of its habit of catching field-rats and insects. In the 
stomachs of those that I dissected were only wings and other frag- 
ments of cockroaches and ground beetles, with some fragments of 
dry twigs probably swallowed accidentally. Young ones, about 
half an inch in length, are often abundant in Bermuda, after showers 
in July. 
It was introduced into Bermuda directly from British Guiana, by 
Capt. Nathaniel Vesey, about 1875. About two dozen were taken 
to Hamilton and mostly liberated in Devonshire Parish, from whence 
they have dispersed themselves considerably. But it is possible that 
they had long before been introduced by others, in small numbers, 
for otherwise it seems strange that they should have reached Castle 
Island, which has been long uninhabited. Possibly the ancestors of 
those seen there and in some other parts may have been introduced 
from the West Indies by soldiers, as early as 1812, but it was not 
noticed by Hurdis, 1847-55. 
This toad is believed in South America and the West Indies, as 
well as in Bermuda, to have a very poisonous secretion from its 
parotid and dorsal glands. It is said that dogs that mouth them 
invariably die within a few hours. The secretion of the glands, 
when injected into the circulation of dogs, birds, and other animals, 
causes convulsions and death, even when in small doses. Mr. A. H. 
Verrill, of my party, on one occasion saw the venom ejected as a 
fine spray, from the parotid glands of a large toad, when it was 
much irritated. 
36.—Introduction of Land Snails and Slugs. 
a.— Native Species. 
As compared with the smaller West Indian Islands, the Pulmonata 
are here very few. The total number recorded from the Bermudas 
is but 42, including 15 semiaquatic species found only on the sea 
