The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1867-04-11
THE UGLY TOAD.

proverb in many languages. Shaks.
peare will have 1t that the toad il wen.
omous" a. well as ''ugly." Now altho'
one "Learned ThebAn" has endeavored
to prove tl,at the great dramatist wa
profoundly versed in legal lore, and an.
other that he was "well up" in medi.
cine, and several that he had fathomed
the depths of theological science, no one
has yet, as far as we know, attempted to
show that he lie to be accepted as author.
ity in Natural History. As to toads, he
is clearly wrong, saving the one point
that they are indisputably ugly" Yet
II the proverb, Handsome is that hand.
some does" were literally true, the
Toad should be considered most conely;
for there ID not, a. far a. mankind Il
concerned, a more well-behaved, harm.
less, and useful creature upon EARTH
What bugs and insects would say o1
him, could they speak and write, ID
quite another question.
Toads, considered from the human
point of view, are quiet, unobtrusivc,
and disposed to keep out of every ones
way. They engage in no turmoils
rarely collect in numbers to constitute
social community; nor are they dis.
posed to set at defiance any Of the regu-
lations of mankind. They delight in
cultivated grounds, but never to the dis
advantage Of the proprietor. In the
daytime they are rarely seen, unless an
old log is rolled from it's bed, a root
wrenched from its place, or a stone is
upturned which had been undisturbed
for years. With extreme sobriety of
department, a never-failing appetite,
and unsurpassed digestive powers, they
have been compared to aldermen, who
are facetiously said to grow fat at the
expense of the taxpayers. Like street
watchmen, sleep through the day, but
at dark take position for beat. If un-
disturbed, they sometimes occupy the
same cozy residence under q door-steep
or some similar retreat, from whence
there is communication with garden,
or any other equally agreeable foraging
spot, for years in succession.
Their longevity ia uncertain; but II it
is true that they are occasionally found
boxed up in the solid wood of immense
trees, from whence they were incident
ally liberated; or stranger still, discov-
cred hermetically sealed in firm, COM
pact stone, brought from deep excava-
tions in the bowels of the earth alive, it
is morally certain we have no data for
determining their duration Of life.
Somewhere in the records of Natural
History reference is made to a toad that
was known to have resided thirty years
in the same inclosure. Contrary to his
usual custom, attracted by the suns
genial rays, he ventured out upon a
grassy eminence near his hole. A tame
crow belonging to the same establish
ment pounced suddenly upon the un-
suspecting patriarch, presumed to have
been wrapt in contemplation, and un-
luckily picked out one eye. After that
misfortune, being no longer able to catch
food, in consequence of disturbance In
the local axis of vision, about to be sx-
planned, the poor creature was supposed
to have died Of starvation.
From the revelations of geology the
fact has been demonstrated that there
was time when the globe was in the
complete possession Of reptile monsters
of gigantic size. They dragged their
huge bodies through lacustrins swamps,
under a torrid sun-rioting in universal
slaughter among themselves. At that
early condition of the earth's surface the
batrachian family was there, ss large as
house. Such q declaration would be
considered as ridiculous and incredible
as Gulliver's description of Brobdinag
and the Lilliputs, were it not true that
the actual fossil remains of those NAM
moth reptiles were on exhibition in va
rious cabinets, an undeniable evidence
of their former existence. Our present
representative Of great antediluvian
ancestry are but diminished shadows ot
an ancient lineage.
The Pipa, huge toad Of 6urinam, q
foot or more broad, is . wonder in ita
way. Each wart on the back IL really q
cell, into which its eggs obtain lodg.
mcnt after extrusion, by assistance Of
tho male, where they are hatched, and
the young ones are carried about by the
mother, with their heads out, enjoying
the prospect, as she hops over field and
moor.
Toads, as we'll ~ frogs, subsist exclu-
sively on living insects, q nies, bugs
worms, slugs, ETC., caught when out ol
their hiding places. Nothing is more
curious in their nature than the well.
established fact that they universally
refuse to feed on any thing that does
not give to them ocular evidences Of be-
ing alive. They were predestined to
keep down the too great multiplication
of insects. IF, therefore, they were ia
depart from the instinct that governs
them, and feed indifferently on dead
materials, nature would fail to accom-
plish tho design contemplated.
Such ID the fact In regard to serpsnts.