508 Bcptiles. 



of stone which had been dug up in a quarry in Goth- 

 land. On being touched with a stick upon the head, he 

 informs us, it contracted its eyes as if asleep, and when 

 the stick was moved gradually opened them. Its mouth 

 had no aperture, but was closed round with a yellowish 

 skin. On being pressed with the stick on the back, a 

 small quantity of clear water issued from it behind, and 

 it immediately died. A living Toad was found in a 

 block of marble at Chillingham Castle, belonging to 

 Lord Tankerville, near Alnwick, in Northumberland. 



Some of these cases are related in a manner which 

 renders it difficult to doubt that the observers described 

 what they thought they saw; but the occurrence of the 

 phenomena, as described, seems to be so utterly im- 

 possible that we are forced to suppose that those writers 

 have been misled in some way. That there is some foun- 

 dation for many of the stories in question we can have 

 no doubt, but we must look forward to further observa- 

 tions for their explanation ; as Mr. Bell says : " To believe 

 that a Toad, inclosed within a mass of clay, or other 

 similar substance, shall exist wholly without air or food, 

 for hundreds of years, and at length be liberated alive, 

 and capable of crawling, on the breaking up of the 

 matrix, now become a solid rock, is certainly a demand 

 upon our credulity which few would be ready to 

 answer." 



With regard to the length of life of these animals, it 

 is impossible to state anything decisive, but several facts 

 prove that some of them have been gifted with astonish- 

 ing longevity. 



A correspondent of Mr. Pennant's supplied him with 

 some curious particulars respecting a domestic Toad, 

 which continued in the same place for thirty-six years. 

 It frequented the steps before the hall-door of a gentle- 

 man's house in Devonshire. By being constantly fed, it 

 was rendered so tame as always to come out of its hole in 

 the evening when a candle was brought, and to look up 

 as if expecting to be carried into the house, where it was 

 frequently fed with insects. An animal of this descrip- 

 tion being so much noticed and befriended excited the 

 cariosity of all who came to the house, and even females 



