POISONOUS ANIMALS 217 



like protuberances upon their bodiee, while large 

 swollen masses are frequently present upon the 

 sides of their heads behind their eyes. 



The common toad is well endowed with poison 

 glands which yield a bitter fluid that is so virulent 

 in its action as to cause a dog to foam at the mouth 

 should it be so indiscreet as to attempt to pick the 

 creature up. Mr. Buckland records the case of a 

 man who bit off the head of one of these creatures 

 for a wager, with the result that his lips, tongue, 

 and throat quickly became very swollen, and ren- 

 dered him dangerously ill for a considerable time. 



The ornamented, horned, or burrowing toad of the 

 Argentine and Southern Brazil also possesses a very 

 powerful poison, and Mr. W. H. Hudson writes in 

 his book The Naturalist in La Plata concerning the 

 species : — ' One summer two horses were found dead 

 on the plain near my home. One, while lying down, 

 had been seized by a fold in the skin near the belly ; 

 the other had been grasped by the nose while crop- 

 ping grass. In both instances the vicious toad was 

 found dead, with jaws tightly closed, still hanging to 

 the dead horse.' The creatures are of a very savage 

 disposition, and if once they obtain a firm grip 

 with their teeth upon a victim, it is almost impossible 

 to make them leave go without killing them. They 

 have a curious habit, when annoyed, of puffing 

 out their bodies to such an extent as to make them 

 appear as if they were about to burst. 



It is a common belief amongst the natives of 

 South America that the milky fluid secreted by 

 the glands of toads possesses curative power, and. 



