496 Embedded Reptiles. By the President. 



The two wortmen who made the discovery, no one else having 

 been present at the time, pointed out the exact place whence was 

 hewn the block from the interior of which it came. 



They stated that in course of work, they had partially separ- 

 ated from the stratum a block measuring about 5 feet by 4 feet ," 

 and an inspection showed me that the separation from the con- 

 tiguous portion of the stratum behind was an "open back " f 

 inch wide, and almost entirely filled with " rain wash " as already 

 indicated. 



The men went on to explain that on striking heavily with 

 their picks on the top of this block, some large fragments were 

 separated, suddenly disclosing a full grown frog in a torpid state, 

 with closed eyes, who fell over on his side as if dead, but in a few 

 minutes opened his eyes, and in a few more moved his legs, soon 

 assuming a normal squatting position, as if nothing particular 

 had happened. 



The foreman took charge of it, providing it with a congenial 

 home on damp earth and moss, and giving it a daily bath. 



I saw it there two days after its second birth into this world, 

 and I saw it again a few days ago. Under Mr Eichardson's 

 care it is alive and well, and though supplied with food, has not 

 eaten any, as far as can be observed. It has not grown, and 

 though healthy and bright, is now emaciated. It was a healthy 

 looking, fairly plump, full grown frog, three-and-a-half inches 

 long, olive brown above, yellowish white below, an ordinary, 

 common-place frog, not at all *'an antediluvian-looking customer," 

 differing in no respect that I could detect from other frogs of my 

 acquaintance ; but still commanding a certain amount of respect 

 because of the rather mysterious nature of its surroundings and 

 antecedents. 



If good old King George found it difficult to account for the 

 apples inside the pudding, what would he have thought about 

 our frog ; for both workmen emphatically declared and persisted, 

 and do so to this day, that between the small cavity in the interior 

 of the block which contained it, and the "back," a distance of 

 two feet, there was no visible chance of communication of any 

 sort or size, nor was there one in any other direction. 



Unfortunately, as I have already intimated, but too inconsistently 

 with general experience in kindred cases, I was too late to find 

 any other relics of the block than a fragment of irregular shape, 

 roughly speaking 1 8 inches square, which displayed a portion of 



