90 CLASSIFICATION OF AMPHIBIANS. 



Yet, if with these prejudices to contend against^ an ob- 

 server of nature will have the courage to place one of 

 these poor creatures in such a position as to examine 

 its eye. his disgust or repugnance will be turned into 

 pity and compassion ; and he vrill wonder how such an 

 expression of mildness and patient endurance could beam 

 from the eye of a being to which nature has given a 

 form so repulsive^ and which ignorance has invested with 

 venomous malignance. There is not, in fact, the least 

 shadow of truth in these fabulous accounts of the venom 

 of the toad, notwithstanding the authority of Shakspeare, 

 or the day dreams of the old naturalists. But to re- 

 sume : toads are destitute of teeth ; their gait is slow ; 

 they leap badly ; and seldom frequent the water but 

 to deposit their eggs : they are, essentially, nocturnal ani- 

 mals, concealing themselves, for the most part, during 

 the day, among sheltering herbage, and only issuing 

 forth, at twihght, to feed upon slugs and similar things. 

 Its hybernation is passed on land, either in holes of 

 walls suited to its habits, or in little burrows, which it 

 excavates beneath the surface. Considering its size, it 

 is a long-hved animal, attaining to fifteen or sixteen years, 

 and producing young the fourth year. We have not 

 heard its cry, which has been likened to the feeble bark- 

 ing of a dog. Some of the European toads (G. Bom- 

 binator Merr.) have the tympanum of the ear concealed 

 imder the skin ; and others, inhabiting tropical America, 

 forming the genus Oxyrhynchus Spix (a name, by the 

 way, previously used in" Ornithology'), have the muzzle 

 of the mouth pointed. Two other genera appear inter- 

 mediate between this last and the Pipa. One of these 

 {Otilophes Cuv.) has the muzzle of an angular shape, 

 and one side of the head is ornamented with a crest, which 

 extends over the parotid. The other genus {Breviceps 

 Merr.) is remarkable for having no visible indication of 

 the tympanum or parotid : the body is oval, the head 

 and mouth very small, and the feet but shghtly pal- 

 mated. Lastly, the Bomhinator obstetricus is remarkable 



