to 10 inches long without the legs; it is ashy gray, irregularly spotted with brownish, and with large warts.-There are several toad-like batrachians, generally arranged by modern herpetologists in the frog family, of which two may be mentioned here. The accoucheur toad (B. obstetricans, Laur. ; genus alytes, Wagler) is common in the vicinity of Paris, in France, and in S. Germany; the males not only assist the females in the exclusion of the eggs (which are yellow), but afterward attach them to their hind legs by small pedicles, the young are developed under ground in the femoral region until they reach the tadpole state, when the males enter the water and the larva escape. In the genus scaphiopus (Holbrook) the body is short and thick, the head short, with teeth in the upper jaw and palate, and the tympanum distinct; posterior limbs short and stout, the leg shorter than the thigh, and a horny spade-like process in the place of a 6th toe; though generally ranked with the frog family, the form is toadlike; eyes large and prominent, with the iris golden and divided into 4 parts by 2 black lines; the anterior limbs long. The only species, S. solitarius (Holbr.), is between 2 and 3 inches long, olive and somewhat warty on the back, with 2 lines of pale yellow from the orbits to the vent; beneath yellowish white. It resembles the toads in its nocturnal, terrestrial, and subterranean habits, living in holes dug by itself, and seizing insects which fall in; its motions are sluggish, and it appears in the evening or after long continued rains; the males have a vocal sac under the throat; it is found from Massachusetts to Georgia. It is solitary except during the breeding season in early spring, when it takes to the water in considerable numbers; the eggs are laid from the last of April to the middle of July, are smaller and darker than in the common toad, and placed commonly around a spear of grass; as in the frogs and toads, they are frequently destroyed by a parasitic fungus. Swimming is performed by alternate strokes, as in the turtles, and their excavations are made by pushing out the hind feet laterally, by which they rapidly get under ground, the body being thrust backward as fast as the hole is formed; the pelvis is very loosely articulated to the sacrum, and moves freely backward and forward upon it.-The family pipida constitute the group of phrynaglosses, so named from having no tongue, as distinguished from the phaneroglosses, in which this organ exists; the tympanum is concealed, and its cavity communicates with the mouth by a single opening in the middle of the posterior part of the palate; the head is triangular, and the small eyes are low and near the mouth; the body is broad and thick, the hind legs very powerful and large, and the toes united by a complete and full web. The family contains only 2 genera, pipa (Laur.) and dactylethra (Cuv.), each with a single species. In pipa there are no teeth, and the last joint of the slender anterior toes is divided into 4 VOL. XV.-33

parts. In dactylethra the upper jaw has small pointed teeth, the tongue is at the back of the mouth, and some of the hind toes have (alone among batrachians) hoof-like claws; the anterior legs are small and slender; the D. Capensis (Cuv.) is found at the Cape of Good Hope and on the Mozambique coast. The Surinam toad (P. Americana, Laur.) has a remarkable and anomalous mode of reproduction; the eggs do not escape into the water, but are received by the male, who deposits them on the back of the female and there impregnates them (some authors say that impregnation takes place before the deposition of the eggs on the back of the female); the skin becomes thickened between them, rises and partly invests each egg in a sac or pouch, covered by a thin operculum of dried gelatinous matter, probably a portion of that which originally surrounded the egg; the young go through the usual changes in the dorsal pouches, and emerge perfect toads; the yolk is of large size; the external branchia disappear at a very early period; the tail is fully formed in the embryo, but is absorbed before it leaves the egg; the embryo at this stage is larger than the original egg, so that it must have absorbed something from the pouch of the parent. This animal is commonly found in the dark corners of houses in Guiana and Surinam, and, though exceedingly disgusting in appearance, is said to be eaten by the natives.

TOAD FISH, a spiny-rayed fish of the lophius family, and genus batrachus (Bloch.), so named from its large head, wide gape, usually naked skin, and disgusting appearance; it is also called frog fish and oyster fish. The head is flattened and wider than the body; teeth conical, small and crowded on the intermaxillaries, larger on the lower jaw, palate, and vomer; operculum small and spiny; head, lips, and cheeks provided with numerous fleshy appendages; lower jaw the longest; 1st dorsal short, with 3 spinous rays almost concealed in the skin; 2d dorsal and anal low, soft, and long; ventrals under the throat, narrow, with 3 rays; pectorals on short arms of 5 carpal bones; 4th branchial arch without gills; body generally scaleless; no pyloric cæca; air bladder deeply forked anteriorly, attached to the vertebrae by slender ligaments, and muscular on the sides. They hide in the sand and mud of salt water, and occur in both hemispheres, preying on fish. There are more than a dozen species, of which one of the best known is the grunting toad fish (B. grunniens, Bloch), found in the seas of the East Indies; the skin is naked, smooth, soft and spongy; the head and jaws with numerous cutaneous appendages; the color is brownish above, marbled with darker, below white, fins white with brown bands; it is 8 to 13 inches long, and is said to be eaten at Bombay; it received its specific name from its making a grunting noise like a pig, from the expulsion of air by the muscular air bladder through the mouth.-The common American toad fish (B. tau, De Kay) is much like the

East Indian, with half a dozen more rays in the 2d dorsal and anal, stronger teeth, more prominent dorsal spines, and rather darker colors; it is 8 inches to a foot long, of a light brown color, marbled with black, and the fins with black lines; the body is covered with a copious viscid secretion; the mouth very large, and the chin and cheeks with numerous fleshy appendages. It is found along the Atlantic coast from Maine to the gulf of Mexico and the West Indies, on the New England coast usually in ponds and lagoons connected with the sea, in muddy shoal water, or under eel grass and stones; it is sometimes taken in winter by the fishermen spearing eels through the ice; where it is abundant, as in some places along the New Jersey coast, it is a great pest from its taking the bait intended for more valuable fish; it lives a considerable time out of the water. It is fond of lurking in holes in the sand, watching for prey like a dog in a kennel, and snapping at any unwary fish coming within reach of its wide jaws; in the summer it may be seen guarding its eggs or young, the latter being found adhering to the under surface of stones by a disk at the end of the yolk sac, and afterward by the ventral fins. The disgusting appearance of this fish, its slimy body, goggle eyes, and immense mouth, have generally prevented the use of its flesh as food, though it is said to be delicate, palatable, and wholesome; it is a savage biter, and capable of inflicting severe wounds. The specific name, which was conferred by Linnæus, though he referred the fish to a wrong family, is derived from a character common to many other species, and only observable in dead and dried specimens; in these the bones of the upper surface of the skull present a transverse and longitudinal ridge united like the letter T (Gr. tau). Other species are found in the Indian and African seas, and some of larger size and with soft scales on the Brazilian coast. TOBACCO, the common name of several species of plants of the genus nicotiana, natural order solanacea, and also of the dried leaves of the plants. The order is remarkable for the number of genera belonging to it of plants possessing powerful narcotic poisonous properties, and at the same time of useful edible plants. Of the former kind may be named the belladonna or deadly nightshade, the stramonium or thorn apple, the hyoscyamus or henbane, &c.; and of the latter the tomato and the potato, which last also affords the poisonous substance solanine. The name tobacco is supposed to be derived from the Indian tabacos, given by the Caribs to the pipe in which they smoked the plant. Others derive it from Tabasco, a province of Mexico; others from the island of Tobago, one of the Caribbees; and others from Tobasco in the gulf of Florida. The name of the genus is derived from that of the French ambassador to Portugal, Jean Nicot, who brought some tobacco in 1560 from Lisbon to France. Several species of the plant are recognized by botanists, but most of the tobacco of

commerce is obtained from the nicotiana tabacum, the common Virginia or sweet-scented tobacco. The plant is an annual, growing 3 to 7 or 8 feet high, with an erect, round, hairy, viscid stem, and a large fibrous root. It bears numerous very large leaves of a pale green color, sessile, ovate lanceolate and pointed in form, which come out alternately from 2 to 3 inches apart. Those near the bottom are sometimes 2 feet long and 6 inches broad. The flowers grow in loose panicles at the extremities of the stalks, and the calyx is bell-shaped, and divided at its summit into 5 pointed segments. The tube of the corolla expands at the top into an oblong cup terminating in a 5-lobed, plaited, rose-colored border. The pistil consists of an oval germ, a slender style longer than the stamens, and a cleft stigma. The flowers are succeeded by capsules of 2 cells opening at the summit and containing numerous kidney-shaped seeds. The plant was unknown to the Europeans until the discovery of the American continent, when it was first noticed by sailors sent ashore by Columbus in Cuba. They found to their astonishment the natives puffing smoke from their mouths and noses, which they afterward learned was derived from the combustion of the dried leaves of this plant. The smoke was inhaled through a hollow cane, one end of which was introduced into the mouth, or in case of the cane being forked, the forked ends were inserted in the nostrils, and the other was applied to the burning leaves. As other portions of America were discovered, tobacco was very generally met with, and appears to have been used in various ways by all the tribes from the N. W. coast to Patagonia. Garcilasso speaks of the ancient Peruvians as using it only for medicinal purposes in the form of snuff. The Aztecs in Mexico, according to Bernal Diaz, used pipes of a varnished and richly gilt wood, and mingled with the intoxicating tobacco the liquidambar and various aromatic herbs. They are also spoken of by Sahagun in his "History of New Spain" as using the leaves rolled into cigars, which they ignited and smoked in tubes of tortoise shell or silver. The use of the pulverized dried leaf or snuff was noticed by Roman Pane, a friar who accompanied Columbus on his second voyage. The natives, he found, took it as a purgative medicine, snuffing it up through hollow canes. Thus all the modes in which the plant is now used appear to have been in common practice with the ancient American races. Its use is traced back to still more remote periods in the pipes found in the ancient mounds and other monuments of unknown races, that inhabited this continent before the Indian tribes. (See PIPE, TOBACCO.) The history and uses of the plant are further noticed in the article CIGAR.-Among the many species and varieties of the tobacco plant, several are worthy of special mention. The plant which yields the "large-leaved" or "Orinoco tobacco" is probably merely a variety of the N. tabacum,

though it has been named by Miller N. latissima, and by Sprengel N. macrophylla; the large Havana cigars are supposed to be made of its leaves. The N. rustica, or common green tobacco," is the species most cultivated in Europe and some parts of Asia and Africa, where also it grows wild, and is said to be that originally introduced into Europe from America. It furnishes the tobacco of Salonica, and the Turkish tobacco grown on the coasts of the Mediterranean, which is so highly valued in India. In England it is cultivated in gardens, and is used by gardeners to destroy insects. Its leaves are petiolate, ovate, and quite entire. The celebrated Shiraz or Persian tobacco is produced by the N. Persica (Lindl.). The small Havana cigars are said to be made of the leaves of N. repanda (Willd.). The N. fructicosa is supposed to be a native of China, and to have been cultivated there in ancient times. The N. quadrivalvis (Pursh) affords tobacco of excellent quality to the Indians of the Missouri and Cumberland rivers; the dried flowers are preferred to the leaves. The N. nana and the N. multivalvis are also plants of the extreme western territories. The calyx of the latter, which is very fetid, is preferred to any other part.-The varieties of tobacco known in commerce are designated by the names of the districts where they are produced. The principal varieties of the United States are the Virginia, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, and Ohio. The first is the strongest kind of tobacco, its leaves of a deep brown and tough, and is better adapted for chewing, for snuff, and for smoking in pipes, than for cigars. The other varieties are generally of a paler color, and of various degrees of strength. The tobacco raised in Connecticut and Massachusetts is alluded to in the article CIGAR, as used for the outer covering of cigars, and the same article names the varieties best adapted for these. The Levant tobaccos are mild and pleasant, and highly valued. The Turkish variety, of which the Latakia is most celebrated, is exported in broad and separate leaves of a bright yellow color. Manila tobacco, grown in Luzon, is dark-colored, and is largely used in the manufacture of cheroots, as cigars are terined in the East. Of the analyses that have been made of tobacco, the following are the most important. The first by Vauquelin is given in the Annales de chimie, vol. lxxi. p. 139, and presents the following ingredients: an acrid volatile principle (nicotine); albumen; red matter, solable in alcohol and water; acetic acid; supermalate of lime; chlorophyl; nitrate of potash and chloride of potassium; sal ammoniac; and water. The next is the analysis of the tobacco leaf by Dr. Conwell, of Philadelphia, given in the "American Journal of Science," vol. xvii. p. 369: gum; mucilage, soluble in both water and alcohol; tannin; gallic acid; chlorophyl; green pulverulent matter, soluble in boiling water; yellow oil having the odor, taste, and poisonous properties of tobacco; pale yellow

The active principles of the plant reside in the alkaloid nicotine or nicotia, and the nicotianine. The former was first separated in a pure state by Messrs. Henry and Boutron, that obtained by the other chemists being an aqueous solution of the alkaline principle in connection with ammonia. (See NICOTIA.) The strongest Virginia and Kentucky tobaccos contain from 6 to 7 per cent. of it, while some of the milder kinds used for cigars contain only about 2 per cent. Nicotianine is the concrete volatile oil of tobacco, or tobacco camphor, obtained by distillation. Six pounds of the leaves yield only about 11 grains of the oil. It is a fatty substance, having the smell of tobacco smoke and a bitter taste. It is volatilized by heat, and is insoluble in water and dilute acids, but dissolves in alcohol, ether, and solution of potash. An empyreumatic oil obtained when the distillation is conducted at a temperature above 212° contains nicotia, and is a most virulent poison. It is of a dark brown color, an acrid taste, and a smell like that of old tobacco pipes. This oil, which cannot be distinguished from that of foxglove, has been detected in tobacco smoke together with nicotianine, nicotia, salts of ammonia, and other volatile products. The ash of tobacco leaves amounts to about to of the entire weight, and consists chiefly of carbonates of lime and magnesia, chloride of potassium, and sulphate of potash.-The medicinal effects of tobacco upon the system are very marked, whether it is taken internally or applied externally. In small quantities, taken by either of the methods in which it is commonly used, as smoking, chewing, or snuffing the pulverized dry leaf, it acts as a sedative narcotic, calming mental and bodily restlessness, and producing a state of languor or repose most agreeable to those accustomed to its use. In larger quantities, or with those unaccustomed to it, it causes giddiness, faintness, nausea, vomiting, and purging, with great debility. As the nausea continues with severe retching, the skin becomes cold and clammy, the muscles relaxed, the pulse feeble, and fainting and sometimes convulsions ensue, terminating in death. Its power of causing relaxation of the muscular