Frogs. 517 



led to the discovery. Mr. Magillycuddy, the gentleman who 

 brought me the living specimens about a month ago, informs 

 me that they bury themselves under the dry sand in the win- 

 ter and may be sometimes seen, in summer evenings, running 

 about like mice in the houses, which they sometimes enter. — 

 J. T. Mackay. 5. Cottage Terrace, Dublin, Feb. 24. 1836. 



[ The Natterjack is common at Bootle, near Liverpool.^ — 

 Are any of your readers acquainted with a variety of toad, 

 common at the place whence I write (Bootle, near Liverpool), 

 and not existing, so far as I can learn, any where else. The 

 reptile in question differs from the common toad, as being 

 smaller, and marked with a beautifully brilliant gold stripe, 

 from the nose along the back to the rump. It runs along the 

 ground, with almost the speed of a mouse, for a short distance ; 

 but its striking peculiarity is in its croak, which I can find no 

 terms to describe. In a summer evening, when musically in- 

 clined, they certainly produce an agreeable and most extra- 

 ordinary concert, performed at a pitch that it may be heard 

 half a mile off. They have obtained the name of Bootle 

 organs. — Henry Berry. Bootle, near Liverpool, August 27. 

 1834. 



[_The Common Frog (JXdfia tempordria) ; the Questions in 

 II. 209 , on the external Characters of the Sexes of, and ivhich 

 of the Sexes it is that croaks, 8fc.~] — The sex of frogs is in- 

 stantly determinable by the short stout spines (ad arctiorem 

 adhaesionem ; non dicimus copulam, nam mas dorso fceminae 

 vectus, ova gradatim expulsa fcecundat) with which the palms 

 of the male are furnished. The croaking probably proceeds 

 from both sexes, and is probably louder at certain seasons, 

 and in peculiar states of the weather. I have observed, while 

 staying on the mountains, that the tinkling bells of 



The Tan [?] Frogs (Hyke) are much more sonorous as the 

 night sets in. — Lansdown Guilding, St. Vincent, May 1. 

 1830. [Mr. Blyth has noted, in VIII. 330., of the cuckoo, 

 that its note is very much affected by the state of the 

 weather.] 



Are Frogs known to whistle ? — Within a few days, I ob- 

 served a large frog on a footpath, which appeared to have 

 been injured. Its body was distended full of air, and its head 

 bent down unnaturally. On my taking it up by a hind leg, 

 it uttered a shrill long whistle, at the same time emptying 

 itself of air. It repeated this feebly. I have imitated the 

 note exactly, by blowing into a key-pipe \ in. wide, f in. deep. 

 The whistle might, possibly, be accidental ; but it was cer- 

 tainly very remarkable, and might have been heard twenty 

 yards off. — J. W. Beeston. Near Nottingham, November 23. 



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