4S NATURAL HISTORY 
The reptiles, few as they are, I am not acquainted with, Co 
well as 1 could wifli, with regard to their natural hiftory. There 
is a degree of dubioufnefs and obfcurity attending the propaga- 
tion of this clai^ of animals, fomething analagous to that of the 
cryptogamia in the fexual fyftem of plants : and the cafe is the 
fame with regard to feme of the fiflies ; as the eel, &c. 
The method in which toads procreate and bring forth feems to 
be very much in the dark. Some authors fay that they are 
viviparous : and yet Ray claffes them among his oviparous ani- 
mals ; and is filent with regard to the manner of their bringing 
forth. Perhaps they may be eVw p,£u m^o■/.o^■, T^u ^wotoxoj, as is 
known to b.' the cafe with the viper. 
The copulation of frogs (or at Icaft the appearance of it ; for 
Szvammerdatn proves that the male has no penis intrans) is notorious 
to every body : becaufc we fee them flicking upon each others 
backs for a month together in the fpring : and yet I never faw, 
or read, of toads being obferved in the fame fituation. It is 
ftrange that the matter with regard to the venom of toads has not 
been yet fettled. That they are not noxious ley feme animals is 
plain : for ducks, buzzards, owls, flone curlews, and fnakes, 
eat them, to my knowledge, with impunity. And I well remember 
the tim.e, but was not eye-witnefs to the fad (though numbers of 
perfons were) when a quack, at this village, ate a toad to make the 
jcountry -people flare ; afterwards he drank oil. 
I have been informed alfo, from undoubted authority, tliatfome 
ladies (ladies you will fay of peculiar tafte) took a fancy to a toad, 
which they nourilhed fummer after fummer, for many years, till 
he grew to a monftrous fize, with the maggots which turn to flefh 
flies. The reptile ufed to come forth every evening from an hole 
under the garden-fteps j and was taken up, after fupper, on the 
table 
