Embedded Reptiles. By the President. 499 



That was the writer's sensible remark, which is totally un- 

 answerable, unless indeed the beast were a Salamander! To 

 such I would urge attention to the conditions under which 

 stratified rocks were founded by deposition under water, during 

 which slow and gradual process, the animal must have quietly 

 maintained its position at the bottom ; and in the case (like our 

 own,) of fresh water animals being found in marine formations, 

 must have wandered into the sea and remained living at the 

 bottom of it. There are also alterative influences, as heat, 

 pressure, dislocation of strata, which have affected such large 

 portions of the earth's crust. But, surely, enough ! 



Still, after all, it is not to be denied that there are curious 

 features connected with many of these discoveries, on which it is 

 desirable that more light should be thrown, and which, there- 

 fore, demand the careful attention of naturalists. 



Next, we have to consider cases like our own, and like the 

 majority of such discoveries, where reptiles are found alive in 

 cavities, to which present communication may or may not exist, 

 or have been observed. 



In the case of rocks near the surface, and in quarries, reptiles 

 find ready admission to holes and fissures. 



In the case of coal pits, wells, deep shafts or excavations, a 

 reptile young or full grown, accidentally falling down, would 

 seek a retreat in the first cavity that it could find ; and the miner 

 or explorer in the course of his work of dislodging it, might 

 hastily conclude that it was co-eval with the stone out of which it 

 made its appearance. 



Thus Dr Schliemann, during his excavations on the site of 

 Homeric Troy, found large live toads among ruins 50 feet below 

 the surface, of which he says " they must have spent 3000 years 

 in these depths — it is very interesting to find in the ruins of Troy 

 living creatures from the time of Hector and Andromache." 

 ("Troy," 1875, p. 157.) Cavities are common enough in sand- 

 stone and limestone. In the latter they are often caused by the 

 percolation of water which holding carbonic acid decomposes the 

 rock, carrying off in solution much of the carbonate of lime, 

 thus making " hard water " for us to drink. 



So, the floor of the cavity thus formed in which our frog lived, 

 was composed of a damp earth, made of a decomposed limestone, 

 stained rust colour owing to the presence of much iron in the 

 water ; and all over his floor were visible, until obliterated by 

 the fingering of visitors, the prints of the animal's toes. 



