7§ The Naturalist in La Plata. 



that all I have said about my lost frog will some 

 day be confirmed by others. Rana luctator would 

 be a good name for this species. 



The toad is a slow-moving creature that puts 

 itself in the way of persecution ; yet, strange to say, 

 the acrid juice it exudes, when irritated is a surer 

 protection to it than venomous fangs are to the 

 deadliest snake. Toads are, in fact, with a very 

 few exceptions, only attacked and devoured by 

 snakes, by lizards, and by their own venomous 

 relative, Oeratophrys ornata. Possibly the cold 

 sluggish natures of all these creatures protects them 

 against the toad's secretion, which would be poison 

 to most warm-blooded animals, but I am not so 

 sure that all fish enjoy a like immunity. I one day 

 noticed a good-sized fish (bagras) floating, belly 

 upmost, on the water. It had apparently just died, 

 and had such a glossy, well-nourished look about it, 

 and appeared so full, I was curious to know the 

 cause of its death. On opening it I found its 

 stomach quite filled with a very large toad it had 

 swallowed. The toad looked perfectly fresh, not 

 even a faint discoloration of the skin showing that 

 the gastric juices had begun to take effect ; the fish, 

 in fact, must have died immediately after swallowing 

 the toad. The country people in South America 

 believe that the milky secretion exuded by the toad 

 possesses wonderful curative properties ; it is their 

 invariable specific for shingles — a painful, dangerous 

 malady common amongst them, and to cure it living 

 toads are applied to the inflamed part. I dare say 

 learned physicians would laugh at this cure, but 

 then, if I mistake not, the learned have in past 



