204 THE ANGLER-NATUEALIST. 



beginning and ending with devouring them. He -will even 

 seize that most unsavoury of all morsels, the toad, although 

 in this case the inherent nauseousness of the animal saves 

 it from being actually swallowed, — its skin, like that 

 of the lizard, containing a white, highly acid secretion, 

 which is exuded from small glands dispersed over the 

 body. 



There are also two httle knobs, in shape like split 

 beans, behind the head, from which, upon pressure, the 

 acid escapes. 



To test this, I have sometimes, wliUst feeding Pike, 

 thrown to them a toad instead of a frog, when it has been 

 immediately snapped up, and as instantaneously spat out 

 again; and the same toad has thus passed through the 

 jaws of nearly every fish in the pond, and escaped with but 

 little injury after all. The effect of this secretion may 

 also be observed in the case of a toad being accidentally 

 seized by a dog, which invariably ejects it at once with 

 unequivocal signs of disgust. 



Pike will attack both the land- and water-rat ; occasion- 

 ally pouching them, but more frequently treating them as 

 in the case of the toad,— a fact confirmed by Captain Wil- 

 liamson, who adds : " But whether owing to the resistance 

 that animal (the rat) makes, which I have witnessed to be 

 very fierce — and that under water too — or whether owing 

 to the hair or scent displeasing them, I know not; but they 

 do not appear to be very partial to the quadruped. I have 

 repeatedly seen rats pass such Jacks as were obviously on 



