of the cryptogamia in the sexual system of plants : 

 and the case is the same with regard to some of the 

 fishes ; as the eel, &c. 



The method in which toads procreate and bring 

 forth seems to be very much in the dark. Some 

 authors say that they are viviparous : and yet Ray 

 classes them among his oviparous animals ; and is 

 silent with regard to the manner of their bringing 

 forth. Perhaps they may be eaco fiev oooto/col, e^co Be 

 ^cooTOKoty as is known to be the case with the viper. 

 That of frogs is notorious to everybody : because 

 we see them sticking upon each other's backs for a 

 month together in the spring: and yet I never saw 

 or read of toads being observed in the same situa- 

 tion. It is strange that the matter with regard to 

 the venom of toads has not yet been settled. That 

 they are not noxious to some animals is plain : for 

 ducks, buzzards, owds, stone-curlews, and snakes eat 

 them, to my knowledge, with impunity. And I 

 well remember the time, but was not eye-witness to 

 the fact (though numbers of persons were) when a 

 quack at this village ate a toad to make the country- 

 people stare ; afterwards he drank oil. 



I have been informed also, from undoubted au- 

 thority, that some ladies (ladies you will say of 

 peculiar taste) took a fancy to a toad, which they 

 nourished summer after summer, for many years, 

 with the maggots w^hich turn to flesh flies, till he 

 grew to a monstrous size. The reptile used to come 



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