Reptiles. 677 



ton be offered to them, they will fasten on it immediately they discover it, and remain 

 so for seven or eight hours at a stretch, and then only give it up hy force. And though 

 they may be actively devouring it all that time, yet at the first favourable opportunity 

 will return and renew their attack as if they had been kept without food for a week. 

 Provided it be animal food, nothing comes amiss, and hence it is not to be wondered 

 at that they should be found feeding on the common white slug, as your correspon- 

 dent noticed. On more than one occasion I have found these young cannibals con- 

 gregated into large black masses, busily occupied with something, their heads being 

 placed centrally, and their bodies regularly radiating from one point; they resembled 

 a large, black, composite flower. On driving them away I have found them feeding 

 on the dead body of a full grown frog, and probably the very one that had given them 

 birth. They have no kind of affection. Anything in the shape of food is acceptable. 

 The food of the adult frog is well known to be animal, such as worms and insects, and 

 in this way they are of great benefit to the gardener. Their mode of capturing their 

 prey is curious ; but as your correspondent only asks about the food of the tadpole, I 

 will not further occupy your space by touching upon that part. — R. Q. Couch ; Pen- 

 zance , June 20, 1844. 



[I should feel exceedingly obliged to Mr. Couch for any particulars respecting the 

 mode in which frogs capture their prey. — E. Newman.'] 



Note on the Anecdotes of Toads being found in solid stone. Mr. Bartlett (Zool. 614) 

 speaks of this peculiar tenacity of life in the toad, as a matter proved beyond all doubt. 

 The cui bono of a toad's being shut up, without air and without food, for an indefinite 

 number of centuries, is certainly a most interesting problem. But let us grant that 

 some result is achieved — a species may be thus preserved, or some such definite end 

 accomplished — still several questions seem to occur as to the fact. 1. What scientific 

 man has examined one of these toads, and ascertained that its situation was precisely 

 as described ; and has he compared the toad with existing species ? 2. To what geo- 

 logical series do the strata containing these habitable sepulchres belong ? 3. In what 

 museum can we see one of these sepulchres and the toad which occupied it ? 4. At 

 what depth from the surface have these sepulchres been found ? I must confess that 

 the statements I have hitherto seen on the subject, have been unsatisfactory, — invari- 

 ably seeming to want the testimony of competent witnesses. Mr. Bartlett will do an 

 important service to science, if he can adduce any satisfactory evidence on this very 

 obscure snbject. — Edward Neivman. 



Note on the Edible Frog. I have been to the fen in Cambridgeshire whence the 

 edible frogs were obtained last year (Zool. 393 and 466), and found them very abun- 

 dant, indeed I am much surprised they were never seen before, their croaking being 

 so very different from that of the common frog ; the sound is more of a loud snore, ex- 

 actly like that of the barn owl, (Strix Fla?nmea, Linn.) The whole fen was quite in a 

 charm with their song. The male, when croaking, has two large bladders, one on each 

 side of the mouth, which give it a very curious appearance. This frog is a very timid 

 creature, disappearing on the least alarm, and it is not very easy to catch. It seems 

 to be entirely a water reptile, never coming on the land, at least I could not find one 

 out of the water, like the common species. — F. Bond ; Kingsbury, June 13, 1844. 



Anecdote of a Shower of Frogs at Selby. In the course of the afternoon of Monday 

 last, during the prevalence of rather heavy rain, the good people of Selty were asto- 

 nished at a remarkable phenomenon. It was rendered forcibly apparent, that with the 

 descent of the rain, there was a shower of another description, viz., a shower of frogs. 



