II* 



AMI-HIBM. 



\-\irinr.iA. 



Frog* exposed to a temperature of 27 degree* Centigrade (80 Fahr.). 

 absorbed four time* a* much oxygen as those submitted to a tem- 

 perature of or? degree! (4J* to 4V Fahr.) only. 



The organ* of the voice in the Anourum Amphibia are only put in 

 generally speaking, at the season of reproduction, an. I then 

 illy by the malw : their croaking* and eric* teem intended to 

 make the one MX sensible of the preeenoe of the otluT. The trachea 

 i- indeed very abort in the Frog ; but it U longer in the male than it ii 

 in tho female, and the rima glottidi* i* also longer in the fofBMC 

 But in some Frogs the males are distinguished by peculiar membranous 

 lags. Thus, the Green Frog has two cheek-pouches, which are inflated 

 by the animal in the breeding seocon, by means of two apertures close 

 to the rima gKittidis; and the chorda) vocales are very large and 

 distinct in many species. The glottis bears, apparently, considerable 

 analogy to the upper larynx in birds ; but in tl 

 receives it* modification only from the edges of tho glottis, which 

 shut* the trachea at tho point where it opera into the mouth ; the 

 ounds being produced by the lower larynx, which is formed at the 

 i" junction of thu two brunches which constitute the origin of 

 the trachea. When tho air-passages of the reptiles emit sounds, they 

 are produced l.y the single larynx and the glottis : from the absence 

 of movoalile lips, and the velum poluti, or their inconsiderable 

 development, those sounds cannot be much modified. Nevertheless, 

 tlie vocal powers of these animals vary very much, according to the 

 varying mechanism manifested in each. The cries of the different 

 species of Kana, from tho well-known croaking of the Common l-'n.g 

 to the bellowing of the Bull-Frog ; the shrill trebles of the species of 

 llyla, of the males especially; the flute-like and metallic sounds 

 occasionally given out, and the sort of seemingly TwntrQoquotu 

 grumbling which some species of Toads exert, are vocal sounds 

 emitted above the larynx a sort of falsetto or race di tela from 

 th. buccal e.i\ity, or some of the accessory sacs. 



( ' inuected with the pheenomena of breathing, it should be stated 

 that the naked skin of the Frogs, and indeed of the Batrochions 

 illy, has the power of acting upon the air in such a way as to 

 fulfil, in a great degree, the functions of the lungs, and that aerated 

 water may be made subservient to this cutaneous respiration. The 

 experiments made on frogs which have been kept in vessels, and 

 under water charged with air renewed from time to time, and on 

 toads which have been kept alive for months in nets sunk under 

 running water, at a low temperature, without any direct access to 

 atmospheric air, prove this. These powers, the faculty of enduring 

 long abstinence, their hibernation, and the age (as great as 36 years) 

 to which the Anourous .luii'hiliiit are said to attain, naturally lead us 

 to the consideration of the stories told <>t the di.-covery of toads, 

 ' antediluvian toads ' as they were once called, inclosed in solid rocks 

 and in the heart of trees, where they had been supposed to have 

 existed for centuries, deprived of the possibility of access to either 

 food or air, though when found they were alive and vigorous. Nor 

 do these stories rest solely on the doul.tt'ul hearsay evidence of unedu- 

 cated persons. Thus Smellie, in h iral History,' 

 alludes to the account in the Memoirs of the Aeademy of Se 

 for the Year 1719, of a toad found alive and healthy in the heart of 

 an old elin ; and of another discovered in the year 173], near Nautz, 

 in the heart of on old oak, without any visible entrance to its 

 habitation. From the size of the tree it was concluded that the 

 animal must have been confined in that situation at least 80 or 

 loo years. He adds, that in the many examples of toads found in 

 solid rocks, exact impressions of their bodies, corresponding to their 

 respective sizes, were uniformly left in the stones or trees from which 

 they were dislodged ; and he asserts that it was said that there existed, 

 when be wrote, a marble chimney-piece at Chatoworth with a print of 

 a toad in it; and that there was a traditionary account of the place 

 and manner in which it was found. 



That frogs, toads, snakes, and lizards " occasionally issue from 

 tones that are broken in a quarry, or in sinking wells, and son 



:rom strata of coal, at the Imttom of a coal-mine," may lie readily 

 admitted; but, as Dr. liuckland well observes, in a pu|n-r recording 

 *ome . - on thin subject and to these we shall presently 



allude -" the evidence is never pcrf. ct to show that the reptiles were 

 entirely incloied in a solid rock; no cxamhi 



the reptile is first discovered by the breaking of the mass in which it 

 was contained, and then it is too late to ascertain, without carefully 

 replacing every fragment (ami in no case that I have seen i 

 ban this ever been don. . whether or not there was any hole or 

 crevice by which the animal may i I the cavity from \\hieh 



it was extracted. Without previous crimination, it is iilir 

 possible to prove that there won no such communication. In the 

 case of rocks near the surface of the earth, and in stone ijimrrit -s, 

 reptiles find ready admissi- i .-. We have a 



notorious example of this kind in the li/.ird found alive in a chalk pit, 

 and brought alive to the late Dr. Clarke." The same author r< 

 that the first effort of the young toad, as soon as it has left its 

 state, and emerged from the water, is to seek shelter in h 

 crevices of rocks and trees. "An individual, which when y<" 

 have thus entered a cavity by some very narrow aperture, would find 

 a1iiind.ini e of f.,od by catching insect*, which like itself seek 

 within such cavities, and may have soon increased so much in bulk 



as to render it impossible to go out again through the narrow aper- 

 ture at which it entered. A (mall hole of th 



'i-kmen, who are the only people whose 

 operations on wood and stone disclose cavities in th 

 mibntMioe*." 



Without, then, attempting to throw discredit upon the observations 

 pul.li.-hed upon thi* curious subject by authors whose charatt. 

 veracity is unquestionable, tho*e of Ouettard, in IT. 



tos Parties de* Sciences et des Arts,' torn, iv.) ; of V.. i 



Silence des Agon* Physique : ,'id .! Mr. Tl 



in Silliman's Journal, in addition to those al>..vc alluded 

 example we may conclude with I>r. liueklmid, in his remarks 

 hist publication, that the several authentic and well-attested ca*es to 

 l>e found in such mt to no more than a n 



the facts so often stated and admitted to be tru 

 occur in cavities of stone, and at the depth of mai 

 earth ; but they state not anything to disprove the possibility of a 

 small aperture by which these cavities may have had commun 

 with the external surface, and insect* have been adm 



overer is always directed more to the toad than 

 to the minutia. .>f the state of tho cavity in which it was . 



Dr. rmekland made some experiments on this subject which he 

 commenced in November, 1825. He can.-, d 1'J circular 

 prepared in a large block of coarse Oolitic Limestone, from lied.! 

 quarry, near Oxford. Each coll was about I 

 in diameter, and had a groove or shoulder at its upper u 

 fitted to receive a circular plate of glass, and a circular slate to ) 

 the glass; the margin of this double cover was closed round, and 

 rendered impenetrable to air and water, by a luting of soft 

 Another block of compact eilicious sandstone !' the 



coal-formation) was made to contain 12 small. 

 6 inches deep and 5 inches in diameter, and each under the same 

 double cover a* the first-mentioned cells. A live toad wan pi. 

 each of these 24 cells on the 26th November, lS2. r >, and the double 

 i over of glass and slate was placed over each of th. 

 down by a luting of cla\ !..-ny and Mr. Dillwyn, wh 



present, ascertained and noted the weight of each toad (they hail all 

 been imprisoned together in a cucumber frame, some of th 

 months previously), as it was immured. The lair. ll-.~. 



grams; the smallest 115 grains; and they were distributed equally, 

 small and large, among the Limestone and Sandstone cells. Th. 

 were buried in the earth of Dr. Buckland's g.-n dee].. On 



the 10th of December, 1826, th. which had ren 



d from the period of their inhumation, were ex:n 

 Kxery toad in the smaller cells .if the Sandstone block was dead, and 

 -.-'> much decayed, that they :nust have been dead for some months. 

 The greater part of those in the larger cells of the oolitic block were 



N'o. 1, which weighed when placed in it-s cell !e_>4 grains, was 

 reduced to 698 grains. No. ">, whose weight at the same ]HT:. 

 1185 grains, hod increased, it is asserted to 1265 grains. Dr. Buck land 

 observes, that the glass c< >vcr o\ IT this toad's cell was slightly cracked, 

 so that minute insects might have entered : but none u.i 

 In another cell, the glass of which was biok 



tenant dead, there was a large assemblage of mim :<nd a 



similar assemblage was observed also on the oufcidu of tl, 



elL In the cell, No. <J, u tond which weighed at 

 988 grains, had increased to 111(5 grains Th 

 was entire, but the luting that secured it was not attentively exni . 

 and Dr. Buckland observes, that it is pr. .!.-. Me that there was some 

 aperture by which small insects found adi: 11 had decreased 



from '.'36 to 652 gi 



The result of Dr. Buckland nta was, that all the toads, 



both large- and small, inclosed in Sandstone, and the small toads in 



' . were dead at t! intha, a fate which 



all the large ones also, b. \piration of the s. 



last were exio : lin.ugh the 



glass covers of their cells, but without removing t! 

 they appeared always awake, with open e\e.-. and never in 

 torpor; but at each successive examination ' 

 more meagre, till at last they were found dead. The t.> toad.- which 



r-t examined had increased in weight, and were at the end of 

 fully closed up again. sempt from the 



common annihilation, but were emaciated and dead before the 

 expiration of the . 



When Dr. l'.ucU:uid indo-ed those toads in (tone, h. , 

 time p ; loads, of moderate -i/e, in tl 



that purpose, on the north .-id.- of the trunk of an a]. pie tree. Two 



..iced in th.' large.-t cell, and each of the others in a I ingle cell, 

 !:._; nearly circular, about , r i inches deep and '.', in. lies in 



diameter. These .lly closed with plugs of \\oo.l.soasto 



exclude access of insects, and wen- apparently air-tight. K\. > 

 ..f the 'pegged' in the kii' was 



.nd of the first year. 



''up. each placed 



iried at th' alld in the same place with the blocks 



of stone, and on being examined at the same time with them, in 



