GeoIogy.'y^$ 459 



the water in which they were found. (Newspaper, Its name 

 and date have not been preserved.) 



A toad, of a dark slate colour, ill a living state, was lately 

 found in the centre of a huge mass of rock at least 50 ft. 

 below the surface of the earth, by some workmen who were 

 digging for coal near Bristol. The animal was very lively at 

 first, but expired soon after being exposed to the air. (Morn- 

 ing Herald, Jan. 18. 1823.) * hue e erfj 



A few weeks ago, some miners, at the Rough Hills colliery, 

 discovered, at the depth of 150 ft. from the surface of the 

 earth, in a solid piece of ironstone, a small toad, which, on 

 exposure to the air, exhibited symptoms of animation ; and, 

 being put into water, lived about three weeks ; growing to 

 nearly double its size when first released from its confined 

 cell, which was just large enough to contain its body. (Copied, 

 from the Shrewsbury Chronicle, into the Bury and Norwich Post 

 for Dec. 21. 1825.) >w n Surf 



While some workmen were splitting staves in the town of 

 Royalton, in this state, last week, a frog was found in the 

 timber, 6 in. from the outside. The tree was perfectly sound, 

 except the space occupied by the frog, which was just wide 

 enough to admit its body. There were thirty layers of wood 

 between where the frog lay and the bark of the tree. The 

 frog appeared lively; and evinced considerable joy on its re- 

 lease from confinement, by the free use of his limbs, which 

 had been held so long in durance vile* (Neivspaper.) 



A Toad enclosed in the Wood of a Tree. — Live toads may 

 crawl any where when young, or get entrapped when asleep, 

 or in a dormant state, by the closing up of fissures in the rocks, 

 or by the swelling of a tree. I myself once cut a live toad 

 out of a growing tree, when pruning it, four feet from the 

 ground ; the toad was but a little one, about the size of half 

 a walnut shell, like one about half a year old, yet it must have 

 been there at least five or six years, as the wood had grown 

 over it to full an inch and a half in thickness, exclusive of the 

 bark. The place I cut it out from was an unsightly pro- 

 tuberance, the effect of bad pruning. Its lodging-room was 

 beautifully polished on the inside, either, as some supposed, 

 from its rou^h skin acting on the wood like a burnishing file or 

 sand-paper ; or rather, as I supposed, from the creature licking 

 with its tongue the juices of the tree, which probably were 

 sufficient to support animal life in such a confined state.— 

 John Howden. July 5. 1829. 



A Bat found within the Timber of a Tree. — A man en- 

 gaged in splitting timber for rail-posts, near Kelsall, in this 

 county, a few weeks since, discovered, in the centre of a Wrge 



