with flies, but in winter it probably did not eat at all, as only a few insects, with grass and moistened hay, were put to it. During this season it was very lean and emaciated; but in summer, when its favorite food could be had in plenty, it soon again became fat. In the eighth winter it pined away by degrees, as was supposed, on account of no insects whatever being to be had*. As captain Stedman was sailing up one of the rivers of Surinam in a canoe, one of the officers who was with him observed, in the top of a mangrove tree, a battle between a Snake and a Tree Frog. When the captain first perceived them, the head and shoulders of the frog were in the jaws of the snake, which was about the size of a large kitchen poker. This creature had its tail twisted round a tough limb of the mangrove; while the frog, which appeared about the size of a man's fist,had laid hold of a twig with his hind-feet. In this position they were contending, the one for life, the other for his dinner, forming one straight line between the two branches; and thus they continued for some time, apparently stationary, and without a struggle. Still it was hoped that the poor frog might extricate himself by his exertions: but the reverse was the case. The jaws of the snake gradually relaxing, and by their elasticity forming an incredible orifice, the body and fore-legs of the frog by little and little disappeared, till finally nothing more was seen than the hinder feet and claws, which were at last disengaged from the twig, and the poor creature was swallowed whole by suction down the throat of VOL. III. * Ephemerides Naturæ curiosorum, D his formidable adversary. He passed some inches further down the alimentary canal, and at last stuck, forming a knob or knot at least six times as thick as the snake, whose jaws and throat immediately contracted, and reassumed their former natural shape. The snake being out of reach of musket shot, they could not kill him to make any further examination, but left him, continuing in the same attitude, motionless, and twisted round the branch*. THE COMMON TOAD†. The Toad is an animal known to every one: and by his livid appearance, and sluggish and disgusting movements, is easily recognized. The females deposit their spawn early in the spring, in the form of necklace-like chains or strings of beautifully transparent gluten, three or four feet in length, inclosing the ova in a double series throughout. These have the appearance of so many jetblack globules: they are, however, nothing more than the larvæ or tadpoles lying in a globular form. These break from their confinement in about a fortnight, and afterwards undergo changes very similar to the tadpoles of the frog. They become complete about the beginning of autumn, when the young animals are frequently to be seen in immense multitudes. When it is irritated the Toad emits from various parts of its skin a kind of frothy fluid, that in our * Stedman. ↑ Rana Bufo. Lin.-Shaw's Gen. Zool. vol. 3. tab. 40, climate produces no further unpleasant symptoms than slight inflammation from its weakly acrimonious nature. Dogs, on seizing these animals, appear to be affected with a slight swelling in their mouth, accompanied by an increased evacuation of saliva. The limpid fluid also which the Toad suddenly ejects from his body when disturbed, has been ascertained to be perfectly free from any noxious qualities whatever it is merely a watery liquor, the contents of a peculiar reservoir, that, in case of alarm, appears to be emptied in order to lighten the body, that it may the more readily escape. It is its extremely forbidding aspect only that has obtained for the Toad its present unjust character of being a poisonous animal. He is on this account persecuted and murdered wherever he appears, on the supposition merely, that, because he is ugly, he must in consequence be venomous. Its eyes are, however, proverbially beautiful, having a brilliant reddish gold-coloured iris surrounding the dark pupil, and forming a striking contrast with the remainder of its body†: hence Shakespere, in Romeo and Juliet, remarks, Some say the Lark and loathed Toad change eyes. Its reputation as a poisonous animal obtained for it, among the superstitious, many preternatural powers; and the reputed dealers in magic art are reported to have made much use of it in their compounds. This circumstance caused it to be inserted, *Townson's Tracts. Shaw's Gen. Zool. iii. 138. among the ingredients adopted by the witches in Macbeth to raise the spirits of the dead: Toad that under the cold stone Boil thou first i' th' charmed pot, It is no difficult task, singular as it may appear to those who never attended much to this animal, to render it quite tame, so that it may be taken in the hand, and carried about a room to catch the flies that alight on the walls. A correspondent of Mr. Pennant gave him some curious particulars of a domestic Toad, which was remarked to continue in the same place for upwards of thirty-six years. It frequented the steps before the hall-door of a gentleman's house in Devonshire. By being constantly fed, it was rendered so tame as always to come out of its hole in an evening when a candle was brought, and look up, as if expecting to be carried into the house, where it was frequently fed with insects. An animal that is so generally detested, being so much noticed and befriended, excited the curiosity of all who came to the house; and even the females so far conquered the horrors instilled into them by their nurses, as generally to request to see it fed. It appeared most partial to flesh maggots, which were kept for it in bran. It would follow them on the table, and, when within a proper distance, would fix its eyes and remain motionless for a little while, apparently to prepare for the stroke, which was instantaneous. It threw out its tongue to a great distance, and the insect stuck by the glutinous matter to its tip, and was swallowed by a motion quicker than the eye could follow. This it was enabled to do, from the root of the tongue (as in the Frog) being attached to the fore-part of the mouth, and lying when at rest with the tip towards the throat. After being kept above thirty-six years, it was at length destroyed by a tame raven, which one day seeing it at the mouth of its hole, pulled it out, and so wounded it, that it died not a great while afterwards*. The Spider was formerly considered an inveterate * enemy to the Toad, and it has been said that whenever they met a contest always took place, in which, from its superior dexterity and address, the former often proved victorious. If this relates to the European Spiders and Toads, it is, most surely, altogether devoid of foundation. In the conclusion of this article it may be expected that we should not leave entirely unnoticed the observations that have been made respecting living Toads being found inclosed in solid substances.Though it is necessary that we should make some allowances for that natural love of the marvellous which pervades the great mass of mankind, yet we have too many respectable authorities to vouch for the fact, and too frequent instances of its recurrence, to allow us to doubt that these animals have been discovered alive in blocks of stone, and in the solid trunks of trees. * Penn: Brit. Zool. App. vol. iii. p. 380-388. |