62 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



trees have a beautiful appearance, and their large 

 white globe-shaped myrtle blooms are the resort of 

 innumerable parroquets, ■ especially of the hairy- 

 tongued Trichorjlossi and of Lathamus discolor, which 

 feed ou the nectar extracted from the flowers. 

 Gould has taken as much as a teaspoonful of honey 

 from the mouth of a bird, shot by him whilst it was 



feedins 



T. J. E. 



A COLONY OE NATTERJACKS. 



ONE day in June, 1871, with my curious instinct 

 in " full swing," I happened to be strolling on 

 a small heath a few miles from Kingston, Abingdon, 

 and made a somewhat noteworthy discovery. In a 

 quarry on this heath are several small pools, which 

 at the proper season absolutely swarm with aquatic 

 creatures. On the above day, after spending some 

 time in exploring these pools, I was about re- 

 tracing my steps to the high-road when a very 

 dandy of a toad ran across the path. He was lighter 

 and more active than ordinary toads, and sported 

 a bright yellow stripe down the back. This was my 

 first introduction to the curious Natterjack {Btifo 

 calamitd). He did not seem to be greatly prepos- 

 sessed with my appearance, however, and scrambled 

 away in the most surprising fashion ; so that to get 

 at all a correct idea of his appearance I was com- 

 pelled to gently detain him with my stick. Com- 

 pared with the bloated garden-toad, I had no hesi- 

 tation in pronouncing my new acquaintance to be 

 a decidedly handsome fellow. What he thought 

 of me I know not. 



Being anxious to witness his aquatic gyrations, I 

 used a little persuasion with my stick and induced 

 him to take to the water, where, after splashing and 

 frolicking about with the agility of a frog, he 

 attempted land, but being kept in awe by the afore- 

 said stick, he sat upright in the shallows and stared 

 at me with a most doleful expression of coun- 

 tenance. 



Presently a hoarse croak rose in the air ; my 

 acquaintance started, and so did I. We soon found 

 out the Cause, for on the opposite side of the pool, 

 and perched on a clod of earth, was Natterjack 

 No. 2, croaking as if his dear little head would 

 break. Discarding my first acquaintance, I stepped 

 across to welcome No. 2 ; but he suddenly ceased 

 his song, and took a desperate "header" into 

 the pool. 



In June of the following year I learned a little 

 more about " natterjackery," or, in other words, 1 

 became more conversant with the internal arrange- 

 ments of the Natterjack's household. One day, 

 while peeping about the pools, 1 saw the eggs or 

 ova of the Bufoldif ; but how to distinguish between 

 the spawn of calamila and that of vulgaris I know 

 not. This beautiful spawn (I say beautiful with 



emphasis) is in the shape of double strings of clear, 

 transparent jelly or gluten, in which are distributed 

 iudiscrimiuately the jet-black, bead-like eggs of the 

 toad, about the size of ordinary shot. These strings 

 of ova were wound round the weeds and about the 

 stones at the bottom of the pool in the most sin- 

 gular and fantastic way. 



On my next visit (July 13tli) the pool was peopled 

 with hundreds of black tadpoles, frisking, wriggling, 

 and twirling about in all dii'ections, and "enjoying 

 life " as only tadpoles can. Some of them, how- 

 ever, had assumed hind-legs, others sported four 

 and a tail to boot, and a few were toads in reality 

 furnished with tails. 



Then squatting in depressions of the sand near 

 the edge of the water, were dozens of little natter- 

 jacks, crowded together, tiny fellows, whom the 

 most spider-hating of spinsters could not call any- 

 thing but " dear little things." These tiny toads had 

 the vertebral stripe quite plain, and were active little 

 creatures. Others were issuing from the pools. 

 They appeared in sight from the dark part of the 

 water, sat for a time in the shallows, and at length 

 crawled out of the water, which they did not care 

 about entering afterwards. On August 1st I went 

 again, and found the little toads appearing very 

 fast from the water. On September 11th, but few 

 tadpoles and fewer toads were to be seen, and on 

 October 12th every vestige of toad-life had dis- 

 appeared. 



A gentleman who resides within a short distance 

 of this "colony of Natterjacks," informs me that, 

 having taken several specimens of these toads from 

 the pools and placed them on his lawn, he found 

 theui to be great travellers, as they wandered away 

 in all directions. He also says he has often heard 

 the evening choruses of the "colony" when nearly 

 three-quarters of a mile away. 



Kingdon, Abiiir/don. W. H. "Waunee. 



ZOOLOGY. 



EjiBra'CLOGY of Biiachiopods. — Professor 

 Morse has recently shown that the embryo of the 

 Braehiopods commences life as a little worm of 

 four segments. After enjoying itself in swimming 

 freely about the water for a time, it attaches itself 

 to the sea-bed by its last segment, and thus settles 

 permanently. The middle segment then protrudes 

 on each side of the iiead segment and gradually en- 

 closes it, thus producing the dorsal and ventral 

 shells so characteristic of the entire class. 



Habits of Siltjroid Pishes.— Mr. P. Day has 

 just made a communication to the Zoological 

 Society. "When fisliing at Cassegode he found that, 

 after having cauglit a large number of specimens of 

 various species of Arius and Osteogeniosus, there 

 were several siluroid eggs at the bottom of the 



