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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



fOcT. 1, 1S67. 



Toads and Erogs. — I have a collection of these 

 in my garden. The toads invariably select the 

 sunniest, hottest, and driest places, and there bask 

 or crawl about in the sun. I never see them in 

 damp shady corners. The frogs appear to object to 

 moisture ; when it rains, they leave the beds and 

 get under shelter. This is always the case. I have 

 seen them climbing up the walls; they get over one 

 ten feet high. They frequently get three or four 

 feet up the stem of a. medlar tree, and there rest, or 

 creep about the branches of an American creeper 

 nailed to a wall. In one part of the garden there 

 are five stone steps; the frogs know them quite 

 well, and go up and down, springing one step at a 

 time in the most methodical and laughable manner. 

 Should the garden door be open in wet weather, 

 they come in and sit round the kitchen fire. They 

 are lively at night, squeaking and hopping about in 

 a sprightly manner. I saw a frog sitting on the 

 top of an agaric a few days ago, in the manner of 

 the sketch I made for Science-Gossip last year. — 

 W. G. S. 



Erog in Gooseberry Bush. — I have, like 

 most others, frequently seen frogs take refuge in 

 holes, ditches, ponds, or banks, also underneath 

 grass, heather, stones, or roots, but never until 

 yesterday morning (August 20th) up a gooseberry 

 bush. I believe the occurrence to be worthy of 

 remark. The frog iu question had been frequently 

 worried by a terrier, whose especial delight con- 

 sisted in hunting the wretched thing out of its 

 hiding-place and carrying it about the garden for 

 short distances in its mouth, so that there was a 

 good reason for its choosing so unusual a position. 

 The gooseberry bush is of a fair size, and the branch 

 on which our friend was seated very slender, and 

 overhanging the ground about a foot and a half 

 above the soil. He was partially hidden from view, 

 though hardly out of reach of the dog's mouth, 

 which had frequently been brought very near him. 

 It would have been impossible for the frog to have 

 hopped to this seat, as the branch was too slight to 

 have borne the shock caused by his weight, its 

 occupant being very fat and heavy, so that he must 

 have climbed up the stem, and thence gradually have 

 proceeded along the branch. Anyhow, there he 

 was, and there he remained for upwards of an hour. 

 — J. G. T. 



[In answer to our correspondent we append a 

 similar occurrence recorded by a well-known author 

 some years ago.] 



Climbing Erogs and Toads.— Have any of 

 your readers experience of the climbing propensities 

 of the British Batrachians ? Some few years since 

 I was summoned by my children into my drawing- 

 room "to see a frog climbing up the glass of the 

 window." This seemed a fool's errand, but it was 



a fact ; a halfgrown frog was adhering by its 

 stomach to the outside of the damp glass, and 

 slowly making its way upwards. More recently, a 

 pet frog, which I had kept in my greenhouse to 

 destroy insects, elected to take up his residence 

 among the branches of a very fine tree-mignonette 

 which I had trained up to be a shrub five-and-a-half 

 feet high. Only a few days since I was called away 

 by a young friend to see a toad which had found a 

 retreat and shelter from the broiling sun in an old 

 blackbird's nest, constructed in a dense thorn hedge, 

 some three or four feet from the ground. All these 

 incidents I can satisfactorily verify if required. Do 



j any books on Natural History record similar facts ? 



i — ft A. Johns, 



Tortoises. — Last autumn I obtained several tor- 

 toises from the river Douro; being recently captured, 

 they would eat nothing until the spring, when they 

 became familiar, receiving food from the hand, as 

 flesh of any kind, cooked or raw, snails, bread, &c. 

 In feeding, they much remind one of a dog in the 

 way they snap, and continue the snapping until the 

 whole piece is in the mouth; but if too large for one 

 mouthful, they tear it asunder by placing the fore- 

 feet firmly against it, whilst with outstretched neck 

 they hold the piece in the beak, and retracting the 

 head, swallow the morsel so detached, renewing the 

 attack with surprising dexterity, showing the won- 

 derful fitness of these clumsy looking creatures for 

 the place in nature assigned to them by God. — G.S., 

 Oporto. 



Eield Mouse. — My children found a very young 

 field mouse, apparently dying; it however took food, 

 recovered, and became a favourite. I made a small 

 revolving cage for it, similar to those sometimes 

 used for squirrels. He grew fast, and became very 

 fat. At dusk he habitually left the dormitory, 

 where he slept during the greater part of the day, 

 and worked away at the cylinder for hours, not 

 attempting to escape, but as far as we could judge 

 being pleased with the exercise, whether in a 

 lighted room or in the dark. He ate most kinds 

 of grain, and fruits, biscuits, cakes, &c, but his 

 standing dish was bread and milk. After being kept 

 for eight or ten months, he became morose, biting 

 when handled, and was liberated. — G. S., Oporto. 



Disguises of Insects. — Will you allow me to 

 supply an omission made by Mr. A. R. Wallace on 

 page 19S of your last month's issue ? I refer to the 

 larva? of the Swallow-tail Butterfly, with regard to 

 which it should have been stated that the boxes 

 containing them were opened and exposed to the 

 fullest light as soon as the larva? had attached 

 themselves permanently to the insides for the purpose 

 of changing into pupa?. This is of importance, as I 

 have no doubt that light has a strong influence in 

 producing the effect mentioned. — T. W. Wood. 



