98 REPTILES OF DORSET, 



it passes through very similar transformations from the egg to the 

 perfect animal. Stories of toads found imbedded in substances 

 like wood or stone have been already alluded to. Mr. Bell, in his 

 history of British Reptiles before referred to, treats them, as he 

 does also stories of vipers taking refuge down their mothers' 

 throats, with scant credit, and he mentions the failure of experi- 

 ments, conducted with a view to testing the truth of the former 

 stories. We can understand a toad being thought an unattractive 

 animal. It certainly is not strictly beautiful, but it is not easy to 

 understand the intense dislike often felt towards them. A gentle- 

 man (now no more) of my acquaintance, a man of high education, 

 a great sportsman, and fond of natural history, could never pass by 

 a toad without doing, or trying to do, it some grievous bodily harm, 

 and the way in which he would quite set his teeth and " go for 

 the toad " was a caution. I used to try and reason with him, but 

 soon found that the source of his dislike was too deep to be removed 

 by any attempts at reasoning. It was, in fact, a matter of 

 sentiment far too ingrained for reason to reach. This kind of 

 dislike is also, I am afraid, nat uncommon also among country 

 people. I have more than once repeated a story, told me by an in- 

 formant, who (I understood) himself witnessed the occurrence, that 

 some years ago a rustic was found belabouring a wretched toad with 

 a bludgeon, and ever and anon as the blows fell thick and fast 

 the rustic ejaculated, with much concentration of venom in his 

 utterance, " I'll larn thee to be a twoad." Unhappy toad, whose 

 simply being what it could not help being was its great sin ! ! 

 Was this treatment by way of beating it out of him, or into him 1 

 I am not now so sure that the informant who told me this story 

 was really an eye witness of the deed, but I believe it is a true 

 tale, though for the credit of our own county I do not believe it 

 attaches to Dorsetshire, but to a neighbouring county. Wherever 

 it may have been, however, let us liope that the progress and 

 spread of education have rendered, or will soon render, such cases 

 impossible. The free opening of our Museums, either wholly or 

 partially, after the wise example of our own County Museum, Avill 



