Reptiles. 7515 



it is a male. The colour is a rusty brown, faintly barred and streaked. I conclude 

 from this and from the size and length of the tail that it must be of very mature growth. 

 Whether the condition of the tail results from injury or whether it is congenital may 

 be a fair question ; I should rather opine the latter, as there seems no reason to think 

 a member would be reproduced in a duplicate form, at least such an excess of repro- 

 ductive energy must be very uncommon. — J. Hawkes ; Kent Counlrj Ophthalmic Hos- 

 pital, Maidstone, March 23, 1861. 



Notes on the Natterjack. — When visiting the other day Mr. Thomas Brightwen 

 the conversation happened to turn upon our natural curiosities, and he wished me to 

 write to you about one of them, the natterjack as we call them {Bufo calamita). We 

 have them in immense numbers here, and they have several names, " running jacks,'' 

 " running toads,'' while the common toad is distinguished as the " hopping toad." 

 When repairing a floor in my dining room some years ago we took half a bushel of 

 natterjacks out. In the parts of Norfolk where they are not to be found they are the 

 " magic toad,'' employed to cure rheumatism, &c. I know a man who caught a 

 " running toad," shut it up in a small tin box, and wore it next his heart, the suppo- 

 sition being that as the toad dried up the rheumatism would leave. The backbone 

 of a " running toad," is supposed to swim against the stream, and if reduced to powder 

 and given to a horse as snuff the horse will follow you anywhere — a new way this of 

 " Rarey-ing " a horse. These notions only prevail where they cannot easily be put to 

 the test of a trial. There is no good account of these animals; I have read Bell's 

 ' British Reptiles,' the translation of Cuvier, &c., but none give an account from 

 personal observation. The habits of the natterjack are very different to those of the 

 common toad. They, like hares, make little forms in my onion beds, and like those 

 animals change them according to the direction of the wind, or rather, I suspect, 

 according to the dryness of the wind, as in very dry weather they bury themselves up 

 or get under flagstones, &c. They seem to suffer from dry even more than the common 

 toad ; their croak too is different, and they appear later in the spring. May I com- 

 mend them to your notice ? I shall be most happy at any time when you may visit 

 Air. T. Brightwen to show you some or to send some to you. I have sent some through 

 friends to Professor Bell and to the Zoological Gardens. — Edward Gillett ; Vicarage, 

 Runham, Stokesby, Norwich. — Communicated by P. H. Gosse, Esq. 



Toads and Lichens. — After much scrambling and unwonted exertion, I find myself 

 on the top of the hill, among a heap of Old-World stones. It is just after a heavy 

 rain, and the rocks are still wet and dripping. I see nothing but a number of 

 gorgeous toads in a bright livery of black and scarlet, and lichens enough to satisfy 

 the desires of the Rev. C. Berkeley himself. The rocks at these elevated situations 

 are larger and more visible than those below, which, moreover, are often concealed by 

 Eleagnus bushes, besides Smilax vines and other creepers. The ancient weather- 

 stained masses are often heaped up in the strangest confusion, and possess a positive 

 though borrowed beauty from the Lepralias and other lichens with which they are 

 encrasted. They are usually of a frosty white, pale green or rusty brown, but some- 

 times you observe a bright orange patch. Among these lichen-covered fragments of 

 primeval granite I find the harlequin toads ; and as the rain has brought out the 

 worms and other dainties on which they feed, they are hopping lazily about in all 

 directions. I know not if this very peculiar toad has been described, but I have pre- 

 served some specimens in spirit for Dr. Gray. The orange, however, has turned dull 



