THE TOAD. 
231 
ciently near, they jump forward witli great agility, dart out 
their tongues, and seize it with certainty. The toneme in 
this animal, as in the toad, lizard, and serpent, is extremely 
Jong, and formed in such a manner that it swallows the 
point down its throat; so that a length of tongue is thus 
drawn out, like a sword from its scabbard, to assail its 
piey. 1 his tongue is furnished with aglutinous substance* 
and whatever insect it touches infallibly adheres, and is 
thus held fust till it is drawn into the mouth. 
The croaking of frogs is well known ; whence in some 
countnes they are distinguished by the ludicrous title of 
Dutch Nightingales. The large water or bull /roes, of the 
northern countnes have a note as loud as the bellowing of a 
bull ; and, for this purpose, puff up the cheeks to a surprising 
magnitude. Ol all frogs, however, the male only croaks ; 
the female is silent; before wet weather, their voices are in 
run exertion ; they are then heard with unceasing assiduity, 
sending foith their call, and welcoming the approaches of 
heir favourite moisture. No weather-glass was ever so 
iue as a frog, in foretelling an approaching change. This 
may probably serve to explain an opinion which some 
entertain, that there is a month in the year, called Paddock 
Moon, in which the frogs never croak : the whole seems to 
be no more than that, in the hot season, when the moisture 
is dried away, and consequently, when these animals neither 
enjoy the quantity of health nor food that at other times 
they are supplied with, they shew by their silence how 
much they are displeased with the weather. 
As frogs adhere closely to the backs of their own species 
so it lias been found, by repeated experiments, they will also 
adhere to the backs of fishes. Few that have ponds, but 
snow that these animals will stick to the backs of carp, and 
‘X their lingers in the corner of each eye. In this manner 
ihey are often caught together; the carp blinded, and wasted 
away. 
1 he Toad. If we regard the figure of the toad, there 
® e enis nothing in it that should disgust more than that of the 
',°g. Its form and proportions are nearly the same; and it 
Dnefly differs in colour, which is blacker; and its slow and 
f eav y motion, which exhibits nothing of the agility of the 
th° g : t. yet SUc1 ’ ' S tlle foree of ,iabit > be gun in early prejudice, 
‘at those who consider the one as an harmless, playful ani- 
ai, turn from the other with horror and disgust. The frog 
v considered as a useful assistant in ridding our grounds of 
rrrur b the toad as a secret enemy that on lv wants an op- 
b->rtunity to infect us with its venom. 
