92 Batkachians. REPTILES. Bateachians. 
belief among the vulgar, and will perhaps continue to 
exist as long as Shakspeare is read. The poor reptiles 
will still be held up as moral beacons, and bad men 
will still be 
“ Marked by the destinies, to be avoided 
As venom toads, or lizard’s dreadful stings ! ” 
— Heni-y VI., Part 3. 
Shakspeare’s belief in the poisonous nature of toads 
seems very strong, so often does he introduce the 
image. In Richard the Third, for instance, the Lady 
Anne, in that “ keen encounter of their wits,” seems 
to come to a crisis in her passion, when she tells the 
“ hunchback” as she spits upon him, that — 
“ Never hung poison on a fouler toad. 
Out of my sight! thou dost infect mine eyes.” 
and Queen Margaret can find no fitter name for him 
than 
“ That poisonous hunch-backed toad.” 
■ — Bichard III. 
The negroes of Africa, however, have no such super- 
stition. Knowing from experience that the skin of the 
toads is cool, from the great amount of evaporation 
which takes place from the skin, they, as Adanson 
informs us, “ in traversing the burning sands of Sene- 
gal, are in the habit of applying one of them alive 
to the forehead for the purpose of cooling it.” The 
reproduction of toads, and the metamorphoses of the 
young, are in all essential points similar to those of the 
frogs. The ova, however, instead of being expelled 
in a mass, are arranged in a double series, placed 
alternately and perfectly regular. The jelly-like 
mass in which the embryos are enveloped, forms a 
continuous line about the eighth or sixth of an inch 
in thickness, and extending to the length of three or 
four feet. They are deposited about a fortnight later 
than those of the frogs, and the only difference in the 
tadpoles is that they are darker and smaller. 
The food of toads consists of small molluscs, worms, 
and insects, which must be alive or in motion, as 
the}' never touch dead or motionless animals. When 
about to feed, the animal remains quite still, with its 
eyes turned directly forwards upon the object, and the 
head a little inclined towards it, and in this attitude it 
remains until the insect or other animal moves ; when, 
by a stroke like lightning, the tongue is thrown forward 
upon the victim, which is instantly drawn into the 
mouth. So rapid is this movement, that it requires 
some little practice, as well as close observation, to 
distinguish the different motions of the tongue. They 
are for the most part truly nocturnal in their hahits, 
seldom issuing from their sombre retreats till night 
comes on, or after the hot rains of summer. Toads 
can live a long time without eating. Instances have 
occurred, apparently on good authority, of their having 
been found shut up for years in old walls, hollow trees, 
or in the substance of the earth, without their having 
been able to get out, and without losing life. 
The feet of toads are seldom used for walking. 
These animals, in fact, only creep, and when they are 
suddenly laid hold of or surprised, they do not attempt 
to seek safety in flight. They stop suddenly, swell the 
body, render it hard and elastic, distil from the tuber- 
cles on the skin a white and fetid humour, emit a 
peculiar fluid from the anus, and attempt to bite. 
Their bite, however, occasions no great inconvenience, 
merely producing at times a slight degree of inflamma- 
tion. In temperate countries, or where the weather is 
cold, toads pass this season of the year in retired and 
sheltered holes, hollow trees, or spaces amongst large^ 
stones, and there, in a state of torpidity, remain until 
the return of spring calls them again into a state of 
life and activity. 
Of the Bufonina forty-four species have been de- 
scribed by Dr. Giinther in the British Museum Cata- 
logue. 
THE COMMON TOAD {Bufo vulgaris ) — Plate 2, fig. 
1 — is very abundant throughout Europe, and occurs 
also in China and Japan. At all times this poor crea- 
ture has been condemned as a disgusting, odious, and 
venomous reptile, and has in consequence suffered 
more undeserved persecution than almost any other 
animal of the class to which he belongs. As Professor 
Bell observes, in Great Britain the Common toad is 
held up as the emblem of all that is malicious and 
hateful in the human character, is placed under uni- 
versal ban, and treated as an outlaw both by man and 
boy throughout the country. “ As loathsome as a 
toad,” “ the loathed toad,” is still the language used 
in reference to this poor inoffensive animal. In general 
form it is certainly far from being prepossessing, for 
the body is puffed out and swollen, the head is large 
and flat on the top, the muzzle rounded and very 
obtuse. The body is covered with warts, which are 
larger above and more numerous beneath, and on the 
nape of the neck are two thick, prominent, and porous 
glands called the parotids. The colour is sombre ; a 
lurid brownish-gray, with reddish-brown tubercles. It 
is about three inches to three and a half in length. 
The Toad is terrestrial in its general habits, and is 
usually found in obscure and sheltered places. It is 
nocturnal in its mode of life, coming out in the evening 
to seek for its food. It is “ heavy-gaited,” as Shak- 
speare well observes, and its mode of progression is by 
crawling, its quickest movement being an imperfect 
leap. To compensate for this, the rapidity with which 
it darts out its tongue to seize its living prey is some- 
thing extraordinary. Insects and w'orms form its chief 
supply, and generally the animal is swallowed alive. 
Earth-worms are a favourite article of food, and it is a 
very curious eight, says Professor Bell, to watch the 
manner in which the powerfid and writhing worm 
is secured: — “If the toad happens to take it by the 
middle, the extremities of the worm are twined with great 
force and activity around the muzzle in every direction, 
in its attempts to escape ; but the Toad pushes one 
portion after another into its mouth by means of the 
fore feet, until it all disappears, when it is swallowed 
whole.” The Toad sheds its skin at certain intervals, 
and the process as described by Mr. Bell is rather a 
curious one. The old skin splits in the middle down 
the back and along the belly. In a short time these 
halves become wrinkled, and by means of the con- 
tinued twitching of the animal’s body, the skin is 
brought down on the sides in folds. The legs are 
then forced from the old cuticle, first the hinder, then 
