186 Queries and Answers. 



least, he never has met with it. — H. TV. Dewhurst. Aug. 6. 

 1832. 



We join our correspondent in asking information on the 

 kind, whether variety or species, of i&ina which has been 

 noticed at Lewisham; and, until some kind friend supplies 

 it, we may, in the interim, refer Mr. Dewhurst to the following 

 extracts on the subject of the natterjack of Pennant : — 



Reports of the Proceedings of the Committee of Science and 

 Correspondence of the Zoological Society of London. Part I. 

 1831, p. 61. April 26. "Mr. Gray exhibited several living 

 specimens of the natterjack of Pennant; a reptile intermediate, 

 in form and habits, between the toad and the frog. He stated, 

 that this animal, the indigenous existence of which has fre- 

 quently been doubted, is found abundantly on Blackheath, 

 and on other commons in the neighbourhood of London." 



The best account of the habits and characters of the natter- 

 jack that we are acquainted with is from the pen of the Rev. 

 Leonard Jenyns, and published in the Transactions of the 

 Cambridge Philosophical Society ', 1830; and thence we copy 

 Mr. Jenyns' s description of the animal: — 



" The general outward appearance is similar to that of the 

 common toad : nevertheless, the following description will 

 serve to discriminate it from that species. Upper part of the 

 body yellowish brown, clouded here and there with shades of 

 a darker colour, and covered with porous warts and pimples 

 of various sizes, which are generally black, enclosing a red 

 spot. A bright golden yellow line runs down the back, ex- 

 tending from the top of the head to the anus, and is very 

 characteristic of the species. Over each shoulder, behind 

 the eyes, is a slight dash of brick red. The under parts are 

 thickly covered with warts of a whitish hue, which are larger 

 and more scattered towards the posterior, smaller and more 

 crowded towards the anterior, extremity ; besides these, the 

 whole of the abdomen, the sides, and, in some instances, the 

 breast and throat, are thinly spotted with black. Chin white; 

 eyes somewhat elevated, and projecting; tongue connected 

 with the lower jaw as far as the lip, from whence it extends 

 into a kind of spatula, which is folded back upon itself when 

 not in use. Feet spotted with black ; the spots, in some in- 

 stances, uniting to form transverse bands. The anterior pair 

 with four divided toes of nearly equal length ; the posterior 

 with five perfectly formed, a little webbed, and the rudiment 

 of a sixth * ; of these, the fifth is more than double the length 



* " In the common toad the sixth toe on the posterior pair of feet is 

 much more developed than in the natterjack. The toes are also more 

 webbed." — Jenyns. 



