Reptiles. 1603 



in every stage, from perfect wood to perfect coal, but were disappointed in not meeting 

 with any of the strata in which were found the fossil frogs. I was much surprised 

 however, to find so goodly a collection of living batrachians in the pools about — 

 chiefly small specimens, as though they were bred there — first, I recognised the natter- 

 jack in plenty ; then I caught a kind of toad, which in its brilliant orange mottled 

 belly, reminded me of the warty newt, it also resembled it in its strong pungent smell 

 when handled ; it was blacker than the common toad on the back, and had larger feet, 

 which, the hind as well as the fore, it almost inverted over its back, in resigning itself to 

 its fate, and to a much greater degree than the common toad does, which only puts its 

 fore-paws over its head like a school-boy who is getting thrashed. There was also 

 another species of toad, chiefly differing at first sight from our common toad in the 

 colour of the eyes, which were grayish, instead of bright gold-colour. I did not recog- 

 nize there, our common toad. I was previously ignorant of the fact, and it struck me 

 as very remarkable, that there should be two species of toads, that we have not in Eng- 

 land at so little distance from us. A day or two after the above mentioned excursion, 

 in examining the crater of the extinct volcano, Roderberg, as I was minutely 

 inspecting a little cavity naturally formed in a bed of cinders, I raked out a toad ap- 

 parently of the same species as the last spoken of above : to my great surprise, and 

 with very great interest, I observed a string of eggs tied round the hocks or knees of 

 its hind legs. They were tough and semi-transparent, and I think I mav describe 

 their appearance by saying that the toad's hind legs looked as if they were chained 

 together by a necklace formed of large mustard-seeds strung on fishing-gut. The 

 time of year too ! Was it a male or female ? What will it do with its eggs ? How dif- 

 ferent they are from the spawn of the common toad, and yet how very much alike the 

 animals are, with such different habits. ! I kept it in a tin box for some days with 

 my other toads, and unfortunately, its eggs got separated from it, though the string 

 had appeared to be tightly twisted round each knee, or heel, if we choose so to call it, 

 there being no communication with the body. At Coblentz, I put them in spirits of 

 wine, thinking they would die instantly, but they were several minutes first, and one 

 poor fellow made me deeply regret that I had inflicted such pain upon him, as he 

 showed by opening his mouth wide, and trying to wipe it out with his fore feet. I 

 carried this and several other bottles of reptiles about with me for several weeks, but 

 as they leaked rather, I got tired of them, and gave them to a museum-keeper at Bern, 

 where also I saw other specimens of the same two species of toad, bottled and named, but 

 I did not take note of the names. Whilst on the subject of toads and frogs, I mav be 

 allowed to make the observation that like the other genera of reptiles, they seem to re- 

 joice in heat, though it must be combined with moisture ; on the hottest davs in Xorth 

 Africa, I have seen hundreds of frogs and of several species, basking on the banks of 

 pools ; on any alarm, they jump into the water, sometimes with a very great leap. Mr. 

 Darwin found no frogs in the damp woods of Tierra del Fuego. In England we have 

 several fewer reptiles than our neighbours in the East, though we have two or three 

 more than our neighbours in the West ; are the sea breezes of the Atlantic unfavour- 

 able to reptile life? Yet natter-jacks live like gentlemen in houses of their own in the 

 sand dunes near Calais. I will mention oue more remarkable reptile I observed near 

 the Rhine. It was on the banks of the crater Lake, the Laacher Lee. I was feeling 

 somewhat nervous and conscious-stricken, having just subjected a puppy to a " grotto 

 del Cano " I had been guided to by a country lad, when I suddenly came upon what 

 at first sight seemed to be a common viper : after the first start, I siezed it and threw 



