80 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Society, and a dealer in natural history objects, who also had at least 

 one Great Auk's egg pass through his hands. Iceland has furnished 

 practically all the skins of the Great Auk now existing in collections, 

 and it was in this country that they existed longest, the last ones 

 known to have been killed being obtained in 1844. These were sent 

 to Copenhagen, where by the kindness of Professor Winge I have 

 been allowed to examine not only the skin of one of them, but also 

 two Great Auk's hearts, as well as the lungs, windpipe, and tongue, 

 all carefully preserved in spirits. The number of Great Auk's skins 

 still in existence is believed to be eighty, but some of them are very 

 moderate specimens, and must have been roughly prepared. Pro- 

 bably there is not a finer or better preserved example than that of 

 which the Norwich Museum is the fortunate possessor ; at all events, 

 it is as good as any I have ever examined, and I believe I have at 

 different times seen twenty-seven Great Auks, half of which were in 

 Continental museums. — 'Eastern Daily Press,' Febriiary 2nd, 1911. 



Toads Eat Wasps and Bees. — I have on several occasions, in 

 pursuit of my calling as a forester, come across a toad sitting near 

 the entrance to a wasp nest, or " bink," as it is called in some parts, 

 devouring the wasps as quickly as they came out and in. I wondered 

 on those occasions how it could manage to swallow them without 

 being stung. It is also fond of paying a visit to the apiary, where 

 it may chance on a stray bee crawling along the ground through 

 some accident in alighting, or being too heavily laden or tired to 

 make the alighting board of the hive. I have on many occasions 

 experimented with it in this way, and one is surprised to see how 

 quickly it can lick them up with its tongue. The bee usually is 

 very quick to make one feel when it is roughly handed, and how the 

 toad makes away with it without showing any symptoms of being 

 stung is a mystery I have never been able to solve. — William 

 Harper, Garhestown, Wigtownshire, Dec. 13, 1910. — {Extract from 

 the ' Scotsman,' rejn'inted' in the 'Fishing Gazette,' January 21, 1911.) 



