ol8 EXISTENCE OF THE TOAD WITHOUT FOOD. 



29th, converted these shallows into true hot-beds. The nu- 

 merous thunder-storms (at Weimar there were four) during 

 that week must have greatly encouraged their rapid develop- 

 ment into perfect insects, and so those clouds of winged in- 

 sects rose almost at once from the temporary swamps, and 

 were immediately obliged to migrate in order to satisfy their 

 appetite, as these species are very voracious. 



In these migrations they follow the direction of the rivers, 

 and they appear always to fly with the current, to whatever 

 quarter the river may flow, near which they happen to be, 

 although they do not keep close by it, as they must spread 

 over wide districts in order to subsist. If with the directions 

 above mentioned we compare the following statements, I think 

 my opinion will be found sufficiently established. Near Wei- 

 mar the river Ilm begins to flow from south-west to north-east 

 after having flowed from the north ; near Halle the Saale 

 flows due northwards ; near Eisenach the Nesse follows a 

 westerly direction towards the Werra. — W. Weissenborn. — 

 Weimar, Aug. 27, 1839. 



Existence of the Toad without Food. — In the Mag. Nat. 

 Hist. vol. ix p. 316, we have an account of a toad that was 

 immured, by way of experiment, in a block of stone, for the 

 space of thirty-eight years, and at the end of that period was 

 found alive. 



On the 10th of September, 183(3, I had a living toad put 

 into the ground at a depth of three feet from the surface, in a 

 bed of flinty gravel ; a flower-pot reversed was placed over 

 it, to prevent the toad from being crushed by the pressure of 

 the earth above. The hole was then filled up and the surface 

 cropped, the spot selected being a garden. 



The pit was reopened on the 29th of last August, after hav- 

 ing been closed for three years all but ten days ; and the toad 

 was found alive, and used all its exertions to crawl away as 

 soon as the flower-pot was removed. It was not a full-grown 

 animal when taken, neither did it appear to have increased in 

 size during its incarceration, its legs and thighs indeed were 

 very slender, compared with the limbs of toads generally ; 

 but this difference probably arose from the disuse of those 

 limbs during confinement. 



I have very good reason to think that the animal would 

 have survived after its long imprisonment, had it not been 

 most injudiciously placed in the sun for three days, in a south- 

 ern aspect, after it was taken out of the ground, for the pur- 

 pose of gratifying the curiosity of any one who might wish 

 to see it. — John Brown. — Stanuay, Sept. 12, 1839. 



