COMMON TOAD. 145 



entirely incredible, and the general run of such ac- 

 counts must be received with a great many grains 

 of allowance for the natural love of the marvellous, 

 the surprise excited by the sudden appearance of 

 the animal in an unsuspected place, and the conse- 

 quent neglect of minute attention at the moment, 

 to the surrounding parts of the spot where it was 

 discovered *. 



* On this subject a curious experiment was made by Mons. 

 Herrissant of the French Academy, in consequence of an asser- 

 tion, that in the year 1771, on pulling down a wall at a seat be- 

 longing to the Duke of Orleans, and which had been built forty 

 years, a living toad had been found in it ; its hind feet being con- 

 fined or imbedded in the mortar. Mr. Herrissant, therefore, in 

 the presence of the Academy, inclosed three toads in as many 

 boxes, which were immediately covered with a thick coat of 

 plaister or mortar, and kept in the apartments of the Academy. 

 On opening these boxes eighteen months afterwards, two of the 

 toads were found still living : these were immediately reinclosed ; 

 but on being again opened some months after, were found dead. 

 These experiments are, perhaps, not very conclusive ; and only 

 appear to prove what was before well known, viz. that the Toad, 

 like many other Amphibia, can support a long abstinence, and 

 requires but a small quantity of air: but in the accounts gene- 

 rally given of toads discovered in stones, wood, &c. the animals 

 are said to have been completely impacted or imbedded, and 

 without any space for air. 



V. III. P. I. 10 



