Address to the L.N.U. 14i 
* It is customary on these occasions briefly to notice the work 
done by the Union during the President’s year of office. Two 
meetings have been held, the first at Mablethorpe, on June 12th, 
about thirty attending, and Professor L. C. Miall, I°.R.S., of the 
Yorkshire College, presiding. The vertebrate section (ornithology) 
_ was, perhaps, the most successful. ‘The full report of this very 
interesting meeting will be found in “ The Naturalist” for 
August and September, this year. 
The Rev. C. W. Whistler found the Natterjack toad (Bufo 
calamita), on the sand-hills. ‘This is an interesting reptile and 
very different from the common toad. It is a light yellow colour, 
and never leaps nor does it crawl, its progression being more like 
” arun. This toad was first discovered near Revesby Abbey, by 
Sir Joseph Banks, who made it known to the naturalist Pennant. 
Its distribution is somewhat remarkable, for it is found not only 
in England, but also in localities in Ireland. where the common 
species isunknown. All the Irish snakes and Toads, as you know, 
were turned into stone by St. Patrick, but this seems to have 
escaped the wrath of the Saint. The inference is that the 
Natterjack succeeded in reaching Ireland before that distressful 
- isle had become severed from Great Britain, which the common 
toad did not do, so we must consider the former is the older 
immigrant of the two, perhaps its particular mode of progress 
_afforded better and more favourable facilities for getting over the 
ground. 
_ In our investigation into the natural history of this county, 
_we must remember that at no very distant period Lincolnshire 
was part of the mainland of Europe, and there was no North Sea 
as we know it now, and we must therefore expect to find close 
affinity between the fauna and flora on both sides of the water. 
Once, no doubt, a great central river, whose debouchure was over 
the Dogger Bank received the waters of the rivers from each side. 
‘The North Sea, if you will take the trouble to look at Mr. Olsen’s 
map, is little more than a great plain covered by shallow water ; 
off the north-east coast of England it is 20 fathoms, and as we go 
south even this depth is exceptional. The North Sea contains 
