. The Saturday magazine . vering, on which the young one feeds,becomes gradually thinner, and at length bursts, andthe young toad begins its life in the water, in theform of a tadpole. When it has first left the egg,that part which forms the head has small blackfringes attached to either side, and with these it issupposed to breathe ; these fringes soon disappear,and it then breathes by means of gills, in the samemanner as a fish ; it remains in this form for severalweeks, feeding,, as most fishes do, upon any animalsubstances that come within its reach : it is soon,however, destined to underg
. The Saturday magazine . vering, on which the young one feeds,becomes gradually thinner, and at length bursts, andthe young toad begins its life in the water, in theform of a tadpole. When it has first left the egg,that part which forms the head has small blackfringes attached to either side, and with these it issupposed to breathe ; these fringes soon disappear,and it then breathes by means of gills, in the samemanner as a fish ; it remains in this form for severalweeks, feeding,, as most fishes do, upon any animalsubstances that come within its reach : it is soon,however, destined to undergo another and most ex-traordinary change. At the hinder part of the blackmass that looks like its head, two legs appear, and, ifcarefuUy examined, two others may be seen in front,but underneath the skin; the tail also becomesshorter, and at last disappears ; the forelegs are setat liberty; a horny beak, which, till now, hadcovered the extremity of the nose, falls off the open- 1^ THE SATURDAY MAGAZINll. [January 12, 1833,. The Sunnam Toad, ing of the gills is closed, and the perfect animal ap-pears ; it is no longer able to breathe while underwater, it refuses all dead animal substances, andseeks the land, to hunt insects for its living. The toad is distinguished from the frog, by itsclumsier appearance, and sluggish crawling move-ments ; its body is covered with small pimples, fromwhich, when alarmed, a fetid humour flows, capable,in the instance of the Surinam toad, of blistering theskin when applied to it; but which has been impro-perly considered poisonous. The most probable useof this liquid is to moisten the body of the animalwhen exposed to the heat of the sun, the warmth ofwhose rays would otherwise render its skin so dry asto prevent its movement, and in the end cause itsdeath. Disgusting, however, as this creature appears,the negroes in Surinam will eat the hinder legs ofthe species figured in our engraving. In winter, theseanimals remain torpid in the mud at the bott
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