REPTILIA AND BATRACHIA OBSEBVED IN NORMANDY. 51 



In a small roadside pond near La Bouille I found Bombi- 

 nator igneus, and obtained ten specimens, but saw it nowbere 

 else, not having tbe opportunity of examining many ponds. 

 Those I saw were generally near the edge of the water, with 

 only the head or part of the head above the surface, and looking 

 so much like little bits of mud that it was no easy matter to 

 make them out. On the 23rd of August I obtained a young one 

 of this year's hatch, having still a little bit of tail remaining, 

 but could find no tadpoles of this species, although the pond 

 contained an immense number of those of liana escidenta 

 and of some species of Newt. The relative difference in size 

 between the male and female Bombinator, seems to be about 

 the same as that of the Common Toad. Those I brought to 

 England feed readily on small earthworms. As soon as they 

 are aware of the presence of food they become very much 

 excited, and are quite as likely to seize one of their companions 

 by the leg as their legitimate prey. The same thing is very 

 noticeable in the case of the Smooth Newt, L. punctatus. The 

 strange habit these little creatures have of throwing the body 

 and limbs into the most violent contortions, when suddenly 

 startled, is very remarkable, and gives them for the time being a 

 most uncanny appearance. They suddenly flatten and depress 

 the body in a wonderful manner, at the same time closing the 

 eyes and throwing up the head, and all four limbs into the air, 

 so as to form a sort of cup, of which the middle of the back is 

 the deepest part ; this gives them somewhat the appearance of a 

 dead frog or toad which has been dried up by the sun, and the 

 very uninviting appearance they present at such a time is pos- 

 sibly a valuable source of protection to them from their enemies. 

 The thick and somewhat clumsy appearance of the hind feet is 

 much more observable in some specimens than in others. 



Bufo vulgaris appeared to be decidedly less numerous than 

 in England, but possibly the time spent in Normandy (less than 

 a month), may have been scarcely long enough to justify such an 

 opinion. Few specimens were found and those mostly imma- 

 ture. Some young fry just leaving the water were seen on the 

 banks of a pond at St. Pierre. In common with some of the 

 other batrachians, the Toad is very subject to a loathsome and 

 deadly disease, the cause and nature of which I know nothing, 

 but which generally shows itself first in the form of a sore place 



