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The Museum Gazette 



strong odour of he-goats. Sheep have glands (interdigital 

 glands) between the hoofs of all the feet, but in goats such 

 glands are always wanting in the hind feet and may be like- 

 wise absent in the front pair. The horns of sheep (when 

 present) generally form a close horizontally directed spiral, 

 with numerous fine transverse wrinkles and are brown in 

 colour. Those of goats are usually blackish, directed more 

 upwards, and may be either scimitar-shaped or corkscrew- 

 like. The Wallachian sheep has, however, upwardly directed 

 corkscrew-like horns. The skull of a typical goat differs 

 from that of a typical sheep by the absence of a pit for the 

 facial gland, by the circumstance that the part behind the 

 horns is rounded instead of flat and meets the frontal plane 

 at a very obtuse, instead of nearly at a right angle, and by the 

 more concave 'profile of the forehead. There are, however, 

 hornless, Roman-nosed domesticated goats without a beard, 

 and wild sheep without face glands, so that it is difficult to 

 distinguish between all the members of the two groups." 



Toads and Natter-jacks. 



The natter-jack is spotted, has a yellow streak down the 

 length of its back, is smaller than the toad, and is a some- 

 what less loathsome animal. The habits of the two are 

 very similar. The common toad is Bufo vulgaris, the natter- 

 jack, Bnfo calamita. To the toad many adjectives have been 

 applied, such as teneatus, cinerius, palmavum, &>c, whilst in 

 vulgar speech it is the common toad, or the paddock. The 

 natter-jack is locally known as the walking toad, the golden 

 back, and the mephitic toad, more learnedly as Bufo cniceatus, 

 B. povtentosus, B. vividis, Rana fcetidissima and R. mephitica. 

 These adjectives suggest that excepting in the possession 

 of the yellow streak and spots there is not much to choose 

 between the two animals. 



Although in popular phraseology toads stand as the type 

 form of reptiles, in the classification of the naturalist they 

 are not reptiles but amphibians (batrachians). They are 



