Embedded Reptiles. By the President. 495 



1828, July— 



'*In removing the old battlements of Framwellgate Bridge, 

 in the City of Durham, a large living toad was found in the 

 very middle of the wall, where it must have been confined for a 

 number of years. The bridge was built by Flambard in 1120, 

 but the date of the erection of the battlement is not known." 

 1849, July— 



''Whilst workmen were engaged on sinking Seaton and Sea- 

 ham Colliery, Durham, they found a large toad embedded in the 

 solid limestone rock, 183 feet from the surface. The reptile, 

 which was of a very curious shape, died soon after being extri- 

 cated, and was afterwards exhibited at Seaham." 



And, lastly, our own example. On the 15th February, 1884, 

 I was informed by Thomas Johnson, Esq., that on the previous 

 day a live frog had been liberated from the solid rock of his 

 Scremerston Quarries. 



I lost no time in proceeding to the spot, where I received all 

 the information and assistance which Mr Eichardson, the intelli- 

 gent and obliging foreman of works, was able to give. 



The stratum of carboniferous limestone at Scremerston, in 

 course of excavation in the open air, of marine origin, and almost 

 certainly an altered coral reef, is locally known as the " Lowdean 

 Workings " ; and underlies, at the place where the discovery 

 was made, a bed of shale and a covering of surface earth, together 

 about 23 feet thick. 



But this 23 feet of superincumbent strata had been removed, 

 nearly two years previously ; so that for that period the top of 

 the limestone stratum was in reality, the surface ; and the distance 

 from that surface to the level of the frog's abode, was eight feet 

 plumb. 



The limestone has naturally a perpendicular cleavage ; so that 

 the stratum is divided into a series of long rows or ranges, later- 

 ally continuous, but separated from each other before and behind 

 by the fissures of cleavage, which are sometimes so narrow that 

 they would with difficulty be noticed, but at others one-half an 

 inch, one, or even two inches wide. 



These fissures, called on the spot "backs," and when they 

 run completely from the top to the bottom of the stratum " open 

 backs," are occasionally empty or nearly so ; but in most cases 

 full of wet earth or clay, and small stones mixed together in 

 various states of consistency. 



