Tivoli

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

an old Roman town in Italy, in the province of Rome ; beautifully situated on the left bank of the Teverone; 17 miles E. N. E. of Rome. It is interesting from the number of antiquities it contains, the most remarkable of which are the remains of the temples of Vesta and the Sibyl, and the villas of Mæcenas and Hadrian. Near the town is the Villa d'Este, erected in 1549. In 1826 a serious inundation destroyed many houses, and in consequence a new chan- TOAD but is rare in the Australian region, one species be being found in Celebes and one in Australia . Three species are European; the common toad (B. vulgaris) and the natterjack (B. calamita), and B. variabilis. The common American species is B. lentiginosus , and is more active than the European species, moving principally by leaping. The first is the type of the family. The body is swollen and heavy-looking, covered with a warty skin, head large, flat, and toothless, with a rounded, blunt muzzle. There is a swelling above the eyes covered with pores, and the parotids are large, thick, and prominent, and secrete an acrid fluid, which probably gave rise to the popular stories about the venom of the toad, or they may owe their origin to the fact that when handled or irritated these animals can eject a watery fluid from the vent. The toad has four fingers and five partially webbed toes. The general color above is a brownish-gray, the tubercules more or less brown; under surface yellowish white, sometimes spotted with black. Toads are terrestrial, hiding in damp, dark places during the day, and crawling with the head near the ground, for their short limbs are badly adapted for leaping. They are extremely tenacious of life, and can exist a long time without food.