250 REPORT OF THE MEETINGS FOR 1900 



Appendix. 



Note on an alleged Embedded Toad Jrom a quarry at 

 Coldstream. — By Comm,ander F. M. Norm.an, R.N. 



Dr D. Robertson Dobie, late of Coldstream — before his 

 departure from that town in the summer of 1900 — called my 

 attention to a live toad which, it was alleged, had recently 

 been discovered embedded in the sandstone of a working 

 quarry close to his house. I lost no time in repairing 

 thither, but found, as I expected, and as unfortunately 

 seems to be the rule in kindred cases, that the block in 

 which the animal was declared to have been entirely isolated 

 and enclosed had been so broken up that for want of reliable 

 data I was unable to make any examination, or form any 

 conclusion that can be considered final or satisfactory ; because 

 the mere statements of workmen unskilled in specific observation 

 cannot be accepted as conclusive, however honestly made or 

 implicitly believed in by themselves. 



During my Presidency of the Club in 1884, I treated the 

 whole subject of "Embedded Reptiles" somewhat at length 

 in a paper which appeared in our Proceedings of that year, 

 to which I beg to refer members who may like to consult it. 



Suffice it now to emphasize the fact that the chief interest 

 in a living frog or toad found apparently enclosed in a block 

 of ancient stone, lies in the idea, or possibility, of its being 

 coeval with that stone — an idea which must be at once 

 dismissed as a primed facie absurdity, for reasons which I 

 have detailed in my paper. Although, however, a reptile 

 cannot be of the same age as his chamber, his presence 

 awakens interesting considerations, as batrachians have been 

 proved to be able to sustain life for many years in close 

 confinement without means of access to the outer world. 



Dr Dobie, who is much interested in, and has taken a 

 great deal of trouble about the affair, produced his toad 

 for inspection, which proved to be an ordinary, fairly well 

 nourished, nearly full grown specimen ; as well as a fragment 

 of the hiding-place which contained him, a piece of flattened 

 sandstone 6 or 8 inches square, which to all appearance 

 was the floor of a water-worn recess or cavity, of the sort 

 which are common in Carboniferous strata. 



