328 THE VIVARIUM. 
for a blade of dead and bleached grass, or a split portion of the 
leaf of a reed. 
The Natterjacks, like the Common Toads, deposit their eggs in 
water in strings, and which are, of course, fertilised in the same 
way as are those of other tailless Batrachians. Their eggs hatch, 
and their tadpoles attain the form of the adult animal much more 
quickly than do the spawn and larvee of B. vulgaris. The absorbent. 
nature of the soil which the Natterjacks inhabit makes this 
unusually rapid development a necessity. As the tadpoles cannot. 
live without water they must arrive at that state in which they 
are to a great extent independent of water before the pool in 
which they have been born is sucked dry by the thirsty sand. I 
have gone tothe spot at which there had been, afew weeks before, 
a small pond containing Natterjacks and their spawn, only to find 
that a slight hollow in the soil represented the position of the late 
pool which I was seeking, toads, spawn, tadpoles, and water 
having alike disappeared. 
Probably, the larvee of Natterjacks, on an average, leave their 
_ tadpolehood within six or seven weeks after they have been hatched. 
The tadpole of B. calamita is smaller and blacker than that of B. 
vulgaris ; the process of development, however, of the larve of 
the two species is identical. 
Natterjacks feed on worms, insects, slugs, and grubs. In 
captivity, they may be provided with insects, mealworms, earth-- 
worms, cockroaches, and “‘ gentles.”” These Toads when very 
tame may sometimes be persuaded to take a worm-like piece of 
meat, waved before them at the end of a wire. Natterjacks 
capture their prey in the same way as do their relatives. 
B. calamita may be or has been fcund in the following parts of 
Great Britain: On or near the coasts of Norfolk, Suffolk, Lincoln- 
shire, Lancashire, in Cheshire, near London, such as on Barnes 
Common, Wisley Heath, etc., near Guildford, near Poole, Dorset- 
shire, near Eversley, Hampshire, on Gamlingay Heath, Cambridge- 
shire, on the shores of Solway Firth, and at Ross Bay, and in Kerry 
in Ireland, etc. o 
~There are in different parts of the country several superstitions 
concerning the Natterjack. For imstance, its dried body is. 
thought to be a useful medicine forthe horse. And if any person. 
