100 Notices of Books. (January, 
with an adhesive secretion), and then retracting it, with its prey, 
in a most rapid manner.” ‘This style of hunting is carried on by 
the common frog upon the ground, and by the tree-frog up 
among the branches; the only misfortune being that not merely 
vermin, but rare and lovely species, whichto capture gladdens 
the heart of the entomologist, thus come to an inglorious end. 
It is, by the way, a remarkable fact that the tree-frog, spread 
over all parts of Europe, and far from uncommon in the north of 
France and in the Channel Islands, is not found in Britain. 
Our climate certainly opposes no obstacle to his existence and 
multiplication, and suitable food he could find in plenty. His 
natural enemies are not more numerous in England than in 
France or Germany. What cause, then, can have led to his 
extin¢tion since Britain was severed from the Continent? Or 
has he only appeared in Western Europe since that event. A 
similar fact, noticed by the author, is the absence of the land 
eft, or salamander. We are compelled, however, to differ from 
Mr. Mivart when he pronounces this animal common throughout 
Europe. In the more eastern parts of the Continent it is strictly 
local, being found in the greatest plenty in the Valley of the 
Neisse, between Ostritz and Hirschfelde. Yet we have in 
Devonshire, Wales, and Cumberland, localities so similar in 
character that we may wonder why this harmless, though 
dreaded,* creature is a stranger to our island. 
The following passage will, perhaps, lead some persons to salu- 
tary reflection :—‘ Many persons are accustomed to make much 
of the distinctive peculiarities of the human frame. In fact, 
however, man’s bodily structure is far less exceptional in the 
animal series, is far less peculiar and isolated, than that which 
is common to frogs and toads.” 
To minds of a higher degree of culture, the following sentences 
will prove even more suggestive :—‘“‘ For some years, individuals 
of this species (the axolotl of Mexico) have been preserved in 
the Jardin des Plantes, at Paris, and a few years ago one indi- 
vidual amongst others there kept, was observed, to the astonish- 
ment of its guardians, to have transformed itself into a creature 
of quite another genus—the genus Amblystoma,—one rich in 
American species. Since then several other individuals have 
transformed themselves, but without affording any clue as to the 
conditions which determine this change—a change remarkable 
indeed, resulting, as it does, not merely in the loss of gills and 
the closing up of the gill openings, but in great changes with 
respect to the skull, the dentition, and other important struc- 
tures. 
‘«‘ There is, moreover, another and very singular fact connected 
with this transformation. It is that no one of the individuals 
* An officious gensd’arm on the frontier of Bohemia who insisted on over- 
hauling our collecting boxes, fled in terror, calling upon St. Nepomuc to 
protect him when he saw a cargo of salamanders. 
