122 LECTURE IX. 



after a few struggles and shakes the toad is 

 free. 



It is a curious fact that, although toads 

 abound in the Island of Jersey, they are never 

 found in the neighbouring island of Guernsey, 

 and, if imported into it, always die. 



Much has been said and written of live toads 

 being found in blocks of stone and in trees ; but 

 I have not been able to procure an authenticated 

 fact of this circumstance : nor is it likely that 

 they would live for hundreds of years in such 

 situations as has been confidently stated, I once 

 put a toad in a flower-pot, which I placed on a 

 flat tile, stopping up the hole at the bottom of the 

 pot, and buried them about a foot deep in the 

 earth. At the end of the year I released the 

 toad, and found him as well and as lively as be- 

 fore his imprisonment ; but this is no argument 

 of their living many years in a block of stone. 

 It is torpid in winter, and then retreats into 

 some sheltered spot, and there remains till the 

 return of spring. 



The frog is, perhaps, a more interesting rep- 

 tile than the toad. It is a harmless as well as 

 a very useful creature, serving Frenchmen for 

 food, but living itself on various insects and slugs, 



