TiON. 



|fg TOAD. Class III. 



the cancer^ by the application of live toads \ but, 

 alas, they leem only to have rendered a horrible 

 complaint more loathfome. My enquiries on this 

 fubjed, and feme further particulars relating to the 

 hiliory of this animal, may be found in the Ap- 

 pendix. 



In a v^ord, we may confider the toad as an 

 anim.al that has neither good nor harm in it •, that 

 being a defencelefs creature, nature had furnifhed 

 it, Tn (lead of arms, with a moil difgufting defor- 

 mity, that ilrikes into almoil every being capable 

 of annoying it, a ftrong repugnancy to meddle 

 v/ith fo hideous and threatening an appearance. 

 Genera- The time of their propagation is very early in 



the fpring: at that feafon the females are feen 

 crawling about opprefTecT by the males, who con- 

 tinue on them for fome hour?, and adhere fo fall as 

 to tear the very Ikin from the parts they flick to. 

 They fpawn like frogs ; but v/hat is Hngular, the 

 male affords the female obiletrical aid, in a manner 

 that will be deicribed in the Appendix. 



To conclude this account with the marvellous, 

 this animal is faid to have often been found in the 

 midft of folid rocks, and even in the centre of 

 growing trees, imprifoned in a fmall hollow, to 

 which there v/as not the lead adit or entrance * : 

 how the animal breathed, or how it fubfiiled (fup- 

 pofing the pofnbiiity of its confinement) is pad 



* Plot's Hiji, Staf, 247. 



our 



