Show A If armless harmless regille reptile not only billy are toads actually harmless bat but they are also absolutely and directly useful to us perambulating our fields and gardens at night and devouring vast quantities of injurious insects which would never be destroyed by the hand of man the mode in which a toad takes its prey is very curious lary iary beautiful eye of the toad is as quick as it is bright and if within the range of its vision an insect or a grub should happen to move the toad is sure to see it and nearly certain to catch it first I 1 the toad holds its head as high as possible BO so as to make sure of its prey and then crawls slowly toward it preferring to get under it if possible when it is nearly within reach it gazes intently at the insect its mouth being gradually brought nearer something pink then flashes from its mouth and the insect vanishes as if by magic the pink flash is the tongue of the toad which is formed in a rather curious way the base of the tongue 1 is fixed close to the front of the lower jaw and is long and tapering the tip pointing down the throat when it is at rest when I 1 however it is used for catching prey it is thrown out with a sort of flick and the tip which is covered with a sort of glutinous secretion ad heires heres to the insect and conveys convoys it down the toads throat thront before the prey has had time to make an effort for escape when the toad swallows its prey rey it does it with a mighty effort cring kring during which the eyes almost disappear the size of the insect having little to do with the vehemence of the demonstration sometimes when a large beetle is swallowed it does struggle but too late and for some time its to struggles may be seen through the thin and sides of its captor the toad sitting the while in perfect composure not in the least affected by the scratch CI ings that are going on in its interior indeed the stomach seems as devoid of feeling as if it were of iron moreover the toad not only cares nothing for the scratch ings and bickings kic kie kIngs kinga of a large beetle but it is equally indifferent to the stings of wasps bees and insects similarly armed with venomous weapons and will eat them with marvelous raar laar appetite as if the sting acted as a sort of gentle aid to digestion like cayenne pepper with cucumber A Bos jesman N ORGIE orgle chapman in his bis travels in the interior of south africa thus describes a novel and disgusting scene of which he was an eyewitness at a great gathering of the natives after eating drinking and other preliminary ceremonies the bushmen indulge ina in a bout of smoking from a rude clay pipe which being passed around each inhales one mouthful A fit of violent intoxication ensues the stomach distends dis tends the breast heaves the eyes turn their whites to view a quivering motion seizes the whole frame and they fall back in terrible convulsions kicking and writhing their faces assume the most hideous contortions and the foam issues from their mouths while the more hardened of the party try to restore the senses of their fellows by squirting squirting water from their mouths on the their B r faces and pulling at a tuft of hair in the crown of their heads this is one of the most disgusting spectacles that can be witnessed it occasionally happens that some of them die in these convulsions others on recovery say that they have been in an ecstacy of delight and desire a repetition and it is every young Bush Buah mens greatest boast to have been drunk from tobacco when smoking alone they freau frequently antly fall into we the tire and are sometimes burnt to death I 1 in n the course of my rambles I 1 have seen hundreds who have been injured by fire into which they had bad fallen during this state of delirium and they are too lazy or i thoughtless to take any precautions before they commence these dangerous orgies the bushmen generally obtain tobacco by sending a few jackal skins to chapo a distance of miles in barter for it the first time I 1 observed one of these peo people plein in this state not knowing the cause I 1 turned to inquire of the others but I 1 found they were all in the same state of stupor one excepted who looked particularly foolish and smiled at my dismay though his head was fast bobbing presently be he rolled over among the rest appalled at the symptoms I 1 seized one of their tortoise shells ran for water which I 1 dashed unsparingly over the them M and on their being restored found that this immoderate use of tobacco had bad caused them yta yva ySa sst |