Embedded Reptiles. By the President. 493 



in 1769, to have heen hberated from his nidus while the block 

 was sawn in two, evidently produced a great impression ; and 

 whatever others might have thought, it is clear that Mr Hutchin- 

 son, another eminent Northumberland historian, had no mis- 

 givings about the genuine antiquity of the example, for he writes 

 in 1776 ; with more faith than accuracy, for the stone is certainly 

 not marble, " How wonderful are the works of Providence, how 

 incomprehensible is the existence of this animal, shut up in the 

 bosom of a mountain, cased in a rock of marble, perhaps 100 feet 

 from the surface, living without air, or only such as should per- 

 vade the veins of the stone, without light, without liberty, 

 deprived of animal consolation," and so on. 



A picture or large heraldic device in a frame, was painted in 

 commemoration. 



It consists of the resemblance of a coat of arms, displaying a 

 large toad on a shield, supported by two frogs, and the motto : — 

 "Est et a Jove Bufo." 



There is also a fungus or toadstool, with a smaller toad upon it. 



The Shield is flanked by a Latin inscription in two parts by 

 an unknown author, ^' thus rendered into English by a late 

 Lord Eavensworth. 



FIE ST PART. 

 Ho ! Stagyrite, 

 " If yon wisli something more wonderful than your own Euripns, 



Come Hither ! 

 Let the tides flow and ebb ; and he be lunatic 



Who robs Trivia of her Honours. 

 Lo, for you something novel, which Africa bears not, 



Nor Nile on his Sandy Shores. 

 (To wit), fire and pure flames. 

 Yet without Vital Air, 

 Out of the dark recesses of the split rock 



As much as you see, the hands of the Midwife Stonecutter gave light 

 To a Living Toad. 



[Akch. ^liana, m., 2.] 

 The picture, which was hanging at Chillingham in 1756, may 

 be seen there to this day. 



* Bishop Cosin, Bishop of Durham 1660-1673 was considered by Lord 

 Eavensworth to have been the author of the inscription ; but a writer in 

 " Archgeologia Mliana," III. 278, thinks that there is very strong internal 

 evidence that he could not have been so. A number of people were sug- 

 gested, but the name of the real author is buried in obscurity. 



