614 Quadrupeds. 



boy, who, when he arrived at the door, was tempted to open the basket to look at the 

 inmate, when most unfortunately it made its escape, and flitted into a leaden spout 

 which was placed against the house, from whence I was unable to recover it. Upon 

 learning the particulars of its discovery, I made a careful search about the vault, but 

 was unable to trace any hole or crack, through which the smallest bat could have crept. 

 The bricklayer also informed me that there was no place where a bat could have en- 

 tered, in the part where he opened the vault, as the entrance was bricked up, and over 

 the steps was placed a slab, which fitted close. If indeed it had been possible for a 

 bat to have got between this, the brickwork at the entrance would most effectually have 

 prevented it from finding an asylum in the vault. The natural inference therefore is, 

 that the bat must have got into the vault when it was last opened, and consequently, 

 had been entombed since the year 1823! It was most unfortunate that I was not able 

 to decide what species it was, but from the bricklayer's description, I think it must 

 have been Vespertilio Pipistrellus. When first taken out of the vault it was in a torpid 

 state, but the effects of the air may be imagined from its taking the first opportunity 

 to escape in the evening ; it ilew, however, far more "leaden winged" than even bats 

 are wont to fly, which was by no means marvellous, when we consider it had been out 

 of practice for twenty-one years. The fact of toads living in blocks of stone, and in 

 the timber of trees for a great length of time (and it is impossible to say how long) is 

 now so clearly established, that no one possessing any knowledge of Natural History 

 for a moment doubts it. And not only has the fact itself been established, but it has 

 also been proved that the frog and salamander tribes imbibe their chief supply of fluid 

 through their skin alone, the liquid particles being absorbed by the skin. In an ex- 

 periment made by Dr. Townson, he found that by placing a frog upon blotting-paper 

 soaked in water, it absorbed nearly its own weight of fluid in an hour and a half; and 

 it is supposed they only emit it when suddenly frightened or pursued, and that their 

 reason for so doing is to lighten their bodies, and enable them to escape with greater 

 ease. This, then, is doubtless the cause of toads being able to live in quarries and 

 trees. Only a few weeks since, in cutting down a fir tree here, the workman disco- 

 vered, completely imbedded in the centre, a toad, which had doubtless been there some 

 years, as the tree had completely grown over it : it must have been kept alive by ab- 

 sorbing the moisture of the tree. It was not in a completely torpid state, and after 

 being exposed to the air a few hours, it crawled in true toad-like style. The age of 

 the tree in which it was found, was, as far as I could judge from the number of circles, 

 about twenty-five years. A knowledge of the peculiar mode of absorbing fluids by the 

 frog tribe, accounts for toads being able to live when enclosed in quarries or trees, but 

 does not assist us in determining how bats contrive to exist for a great space of time, 

 without food and almost without air. — J. Pemberton Bartlett ; Kingston Rectory, Kent. 



Anecdote of a Cat catching Eels. One often hears of the great dislike cats have to 

 the water, but also occasionally of exceptions to the rule. I remember, when living 

 at Worcester, many years ago, many times seeing the cat of a near neighbour of ours 

 bring fish, mostly eels, into the house, which it used to catch in a pond not far off. 

 This was an almost everyday occurrence. — Beverley R. Morris, A.B., M.D. ; York, 

 May 2, 1844. 



Anecdote of a Fox. In the summer of 1842, a bitch fox reared a litter of cubs here 

 in the middle of a wheat-field. The crop was in full ear when they were discovered, 

 and being thick and high, afforded them excellent shelter. The spot occupied by the 

 young family was on the top of a dry land, and the stems of the corn were trodden 



