THE COMMON TOAD. 4! 



mouth of its hole, pulled it out, and so wounded 

 it that it died not a great while afterwards*. 



The Spider was formerly considered an inve- 

 terate enemy to the Toad ; and it has been said that, 

 whenever these animals met, a contest always took 

 place, in which, from its superior dexterity and ad- 

 dress, the former often proved victorious. If this 

 relates to the European Spiders and Toads, it is, 

 most surely, altogether devoid of foundation. 



In the conclusion of this article it may be ex- 

 pected that I should not leave entirely unnoticed 

 the observations that have been made respecting 

 living Toads being found inclosed in solid sub- 

 stances. — Though it is necessary that some allow- 

 ances should be made for that natural love of the 

 marvellous which pervades the great mass of man- 

 kind, yet we have too many respectable authorities 

 to vouch for the fact, and too frequent instances of 

 its recurrence, to allow us to doubt that these ani- 

 mals have been discovered alive in blocks of stone, 

 and in the solid trunks of trees. 



To account for so extraordinary a phenomenon, 

 a French writer, M. Lecat, says that some philoso- 

 phers have been of opinion that the eggs of these 

 animals, created at the beginning of the world, and 

 floating about on the watery expanse, have since 

 that time continued inclosed in the interior parts of 

 rocks. But he contradicts this opinion by remark- 

 ing that the creation of an egg is not sufficient ; 



* Perm. Brit. Zooi. App.yol. iii. p. 5S0. 3$ 



