884 Reptiles 



is infinitely stronger than any odour I ever experienced, in any rook- 

 ery I have ever visited. For the whole ground occupied by these 

 birds, at the beginning of the month of June, is completely plastered 

 over with their dung; — so thickly covered, that it might be supposed 

 almost impossible for any vegetation to force its way through such a 

 superabundant deposit ; or that such an accumulation of rich manure 

 would even rot the roots and seeds of the plants entirely. But visit 

 again this oasis in deserto about the end of August, or the beginning 

 of September, and the colour of the surface of the breeding-ground 

 will be found to be most agreeably changed. Rich, tall, and luxuri- 

 ant grass, of the kinds already particularized, will be found univer- 

 sally to prevail, and a crop abundantly sufficient to satisfy the owner 

 or farmer of some of the richest meadows in the county palatine of 

 Lancaster. Then, say I to the farmer, take or learn a lesson from 

 these gulls. 



" Longum est iter per praecepta, breve et efficax per exempla." 



I have only to add that as Mr. Yarrell, in his admirable ' History 

 of British Birds ' (iii. 434 — 436), has recorded that extensive colonies 

 of black-headed gulls annually breed at " Scoulton-mere in Norfolk, 

 at Twig-moor near Brigg in Lincolnshire, and at Pallinsburn in 

 Northumberland ; w I should be very glad to learn from any corre- 

 spondent of 'The Zoologist,' whether any similar change of herbage 

 has ever been noticed in any of those breeding-stations, as the effect 

 of the dung of these birds deposited during the breeding-seasons. 



J. D. Banister. 



Pilling, Garstang, Lancashire, 

 February 5, 1845. 



Frog found alive in Stone. A very lengthened statement has gone the round of 

 the papers, relating the discovery of a frog in one of the Welsh slate-quarries. It is 

 copied from a Welsh paper, but is so intermixed with editorial wit and erudition, that 

 I cannot afford space for the entire statement. The facts are stated to be these : — 

 that William Ellis, a quarryman, laid bare with a blow of his pickaxe, the cavity in 

 which the frog had resided for countless centuries ; that this cavity exactly fitted the 

 form of the frog, which, on being liberated, leaped briskly into daylight, without ex- 

 pressing himself displeased with the change: and lastly, that he must have resided in 

 the solid stone ever since the flood; 1. Because his mouth would not open ! 2. Because 

 he had a thin dilatable skin under his lower jaw ! And, 3. Because he had a sharp 

 angle in his back, which must have been occasioned by his cramped position ! Natu- 

 ralists will at once know how to appreciate these arguments. — Edward Newman. 



