492 Embedded Reptiles. By the President. 



Hitherto, however, we have heen entirely without one ; though 

 I learn from Mr Hardy that Dr Johnston fclarum et veneralile 

 nomen ! ), had turned his attention to the matter, and was collect- 

 ing general instances. 



But we have no time for the enumeration or consideration of 

 mere general instances, however interesting. The main thing 

 for us is to get them local or sub-local ; and chiefly through the 

 kindness of my friend, our member, MrE. G. Bolam, of Berwick, 

 who afforded me facilities for search among his valuable store of 

 books relating to our Border Counties, and for a personal ex- 

 amination of the Chillingham relics, I am enabled to bring 

 forward a few examples, which in addition to their general, have 

 a more immediate interest for us — though it must be remarked 

 that they nearly all belong, as far as this Club is concerned, to 

 pre-historic times. 



They seem to form a natural introduction to the story of our 

 own Frog. 



Eirst then, we have the famed Chillingham Toad, of which 

 the earliest notice is found in the "Athenian Oracle," Yol. iii., 

 published in 1704, where a translation of the inscription (see 

 further on) is given ; in the 2nd part of which there is an allusion 

 to Harvey, in a context which makes it tolerably certain that the 

 famous discoverer of the circulation of the blood is meant : 



<( 



Here forsooth you may see a shell 



The Produce of a white Hen, 

 How a Chicken shall be formed from it 



Harvey will tell you." 



Now Harvey died in 1658, and we may certainly infer that the 

 inscription was written during his life time, and during the 

 latter part of it when he was known to fame ; but how long the 

 toad was found before the writing of the inscription, we cannot 

 discover. 



The next notice appears in " The Gentleman's Magazine " for 

 1756. 



" A living toad," writes the historian (but he does not state in 

 what year) " was found in the body of the freestone which was 

 used for the Chimney Piece of the great Hall in Chillingham 

 Castle. It is said to have exactly filled the cavity where it lay, 

 as a figure of metal fills a mould.'' 



The discovery of this creature, declared by the historian Wallis 



