TOADS. 
409 
animals may be found at times far removed from the 
surface, and lead quarrymen to the notion of their 
being actually imbedded. Toads are great lovers of se¬ 
clusion from light, and after their night rambles in 
search of provenderthey seek hollows and other retir¬ 
ed abodes, and amongst other dark and gloomy 
recesses which they invariably select, are not unfre- 
quently discerned as before said, in the crevices of 
rocks in quarry pits; to account for their being found 
here, we need only recollect that their jumps are in 
great measure desultory and precipitate, and may 
therefore bring them at times into these places. They 
are not however incapable of removing from hence; 
two which I once kept could climb the sides of a 
box in which I confined them. The respiration of 
toads and of other reptiles is not incommoded by 
their position in such circumscribed retreats ; I car¬ 
ried one a distance of four miles, wrapped in three 
papers, and these again covered by a handkerchief. 
Their capacity for abstinence is very considerable; 
in June 1830,1 placed one on a plate and covered 
it over with a cup fitting accurately ; it sustained a 
fast for three months. Their food, so far as I have 
seen, consists of various sorts of beetles and the 
common earth-worm. I cannot say if they drink, 
but it is understood by naturalists that they do not, 
absorbing in lieu fluids by their skin, which is ex¬ 
tremely well supplied with pores for the purpose. 
I have remarked that if I kept a toad for some time 
from water, and then put in on a plate holding 
water, it would expand itself to its utmost width 
and squat on the plate, as if conscious of thereby 
presenting its utmost extent of surface for absorp¬ 
tion to the fluid. The quantity of water was also 
found to be diminished after this. Some persons 
suppose that toads and frogs differ in colour accord¬ 
ing to the nature and colour of the medium wherein 
they exist. This is certainly an error, for frogs and 
