REPORT OF THE MEETINGS FOR 1900 251 



If I were asked how the toad got there, I should say 

 that as a very young and small creature, not long emerged 

 from the tadpole stage, he might have fallen down from the 

 surface, crept into the cavity, and have been nourished by 

 dripping water contsiniug minute insects or animalcules ; or 

 to take a more prosaic view, I might suppose him to have 

 quite recently dropped down full-grown, and to have simply 

 utilised the recess for a few days lodging ; but, as all the 

 surrounding features were obliterated, I cannot venture 

 beyond conjecture. 



Of course our interest would be greatly increased if we 

 were in a position to determine, beyond reasonable doubt, 

 that the aperture by which the reptile originally entered, at 

 whatever age or size, had since been filled up by infiltration 

 and incrustation, because then we could fix for him a very 

 respectable age, though, as I said, the notion of his having 

 existed in his abode since the Carboniferous era, or even 

 of his having " disported in the same limpid stream in 

 which Adam bathed his sturdy limbs " (to use the fanciful 

 speculation of a former toad discoverer at Bathgate) is 

 untenable ; still we might allow the possibility of the 

 animal's having lain where he was found in a torpid state 

 for many years. 



Since the preceding note was sent to the printer an 

 interesting example appeared in the Graphic of 20th April 

 1901— "A Curious Find: A Flint Boulder with a Mummified 

 Toad inside it" — which attracted considerable attention. The 

 flint, an ordinary flint from the Lewes Chalk, is apparently 

 about as big as one's fist, and has a cavity in its centre, 

 no uncommon occurrence, which contains the dried-up remains 

 of a toad. 



The engraving shows clearly that a hole existed at one 

 end of the flint; therefore in this case there is nothing 

 exceptional in kind, though it is a very interesting one 

 in degree. 



F. M. Norman, 



July 1901. 



