494 Embedded Reptiles. By the President. 



So, also, may be the slab of freestone, carefully preserved, 

 and containing the nidus of the toad, or more accurately a seg- 

 ment of it, an irregularly shaped hole about 7 inches by 5, the 

 interior being slightly encrusted or ferruginously discoloured. 

 I cannot, I regret to say, after inspection endorse the statement 

 of the writer in the Magazine, that the figure of the hole plainly 

 corresponds to the parts of an animal. 



The second example is from Hutchinson, and is of so interest- 

 ing a character, that the want of corroborative evidence seems 

 especially provoking. He says : — 



" In the newspaper of 1776 (the date of the publication of his 

 History), a letter from Sunderland mentions, that a few days 

 ago, in a coal mine, under the place, a large toad was found 

 alive in the solid coal, 190 feet under-ground. On being exposed 

 to the air it instantly died." 



My third is extracted from the " Historical Eecord of Eemark- 

 able Events " published in Newcastle : — 

 1797, June— 



** This month, in working a slate quarry at Barnard Castle, 

 was discovered in a large stone, solid excepting the spot occupied 

 by the incarcerated animal, a toad, which died immediately on 

 being exposed to the air." 



My others are from the same source. 

 1809, November 22nd— 



" On opening a gap in a wall near Bamborough for the 

 passage of carts, a toad which had been incarcerated in the 

 centre of the wall, was found alive and set at liberty. A mason, 

 Geo. Wilson, when building this wall 16 years before, had 

 wantonly immured the animal in a close cavity formed by lime 

 and stone, just large enough to contain it, which he plastered so 

 closely as seemingly to prevent the admission of air. When 

 discovered, it was torpid, but quietly recovered animation 

 and activity, and hopped away to a neighbouring heap of 

 stones." 

 1812, Oct. 21— 



''Some workmen employed at Bykerhill, near Newcastle, on 

 splitting a large block of freestone, nearly 3 tons in weight, 

 found a living toad in the middle of it. 



The cavity that contained the animal, to which there was no 

 passage, was the model of its figure, and was lined with a black 

 substance, suffused with moisture." 



