TOADS FOUND LIVING IN STONE 377 



— that on splitting a block of stone the workmen 

 engaged in the operation have seen a toad emerge 

 from the broken mass. The fact is that the rocks in 

 many stone quarries are " fissured " or cracked, so that 

 a narrow space or " crack " extends through many feet 

 of thickness of rock to the surface, which is covered by 

 vegetable mould. Occasionally, owing to rain and flood, 

 the mould is washed away, and some of it carried into 

 the cracks or fissures in the rock. Occasionally a young 

 toad is carried from the surface into such a fissure and 

 far down its sides, and eventually lodges 20 feet or 

 more in the thickness of the rock. The same circum- 

 stances which have carried the toad into the fissure 

 carry in also from time to time small worms, grubs, 

 insects, on which the toad may feed, but in any case 

 the far-spreading though narrow fissure will hold plenty 

 of air and moisture, and even without food a toad 

 can remain alive for several months provided that the 

 temperature is about that of a cool autumn day, its 

 surface kept moist and the air also. Hence it is in 

 accordance with recognized conditions that occasionally 

 quarrymen should " get out " a block of stone deep 

 below the surface in a stone quarry which is traversed 

 by a fissure or has a small natural cavity in it (as 

 limestone and other rocks often have) communicating 

 with a fissure, and that when they break the stone 

 and accidentally open the fissure or connected cavity a 

 healthy living toad is found ensconced in it. The recent 

 washing of clay and powdered stone into the fissure by 

 rain and flood sometimes may hide its existence from 

 the casual observation of the workmen, and the soft 

 \ material washed in may even be found fitting closely 

 to the toad's body. And thus it will appear that 

 the toad is very closely embedded in the solid 

 stone. 



