
120 
KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 

in a different manner to the ova, and subsequent 
tadpole. Mr. J. Higginhottom, of Nottingham, 
who has paid great attention to this subject, has 
clearly proved the development of the tadpole to 
the perfect toad, in situations wholly deprived of 
light. This I have, through his kindness, several 
times witnessed. My present remarks are intended 
to show that, occasionally, frogs and toads are re- 
produced in localities where it would be impossible 
for the intermediate stage of tadpole to have any 
existence. 1. Toads deposit spawn in cellars, and 
young toads are afterwards observed. Last summer 
several masses of spawn were procured from my 
cellar, having been found deposited amongst de- 
caying potatoes, &c., and, subsequently, young 
toads were noticed. The cellar is free from water, 
and at a considerable distance from any brook,— 
2. Young toads are observed among hot-beds. In 
the kitchen-garden at Highfield House (which is 
entirely walled round), young toads have been 
noticed round the cucumber and melon beds. The 
gardeners have been in the habit of bringing toads 
to these beds to destroy the insects; these have con- 
tinued amongst the warm, damp straw, all summer. 
It is after these beds have remained three or four 
months, that the young ones have been noticed. 
Toads would have to travel half-a-mile to reach 
this garden from the brook or lake ; and also to 
mount a steep hill, besides taking the opportunity 
of coming through the door. Toads, so small, are 
not seen in any other part of the gardens.— 
3 Young toads and frogs are observed in abundance 
at the summit of another hill, whilst quite small. 
During the past summer, especially in the month 
of July, very many young toads and frogs were seen 
amongst the strawberry plants; apparently from 
a week toa month old. These might possibly have 
travelled from a brook, afew hundred yards dis- 
tant ; yet it is strange that, with the exception of 
these beds, no young toads could be found elsewhere 
in the garden. A number of full-grown toads are 
mostly to be seen about these beds—4. Young 
frogs, dug out of the ground in the month of 
January. In digging in the garden amongst the 
strawberry-beds (near where so many toads were 
observed last summer), in the middle of January 
in the present year, a nest of about a score young 
frogs were upturned. These were apparently three 
or four weeks old. This ground had been previ- 
ously dug in the month of August, and many 
strawberry plants buried. It was amongst a mass 
of these plants, in a state of partial decomposition, 
that these young ones were observed.—5. Young 
frogs are bred in cellars, where there is no water 
for tadpoles. In mentioning the subject to 
Mr. Joseph Sidebotham, of Manchester (an active 
botanist), he informed me that young frogs; and, 
in fact, frogs of all sizes, were to be seen in his 
cellar, amongst decaying dahlia tubers. The 
smallest of them were only about half the ordinary 
size of the young frog, when newly-developed from 
the tadpole. He further stated, that there was no 
water in the cellar; and no means of young frogs 
entering, except by first coming into the kitchen,— 
a mode of entry, if not impossible, highly impro- 
bable. Mr, Sidebotham never found any spawn. 
It seems probable from the above, that frogs are 
occasionally born alive in situations where no water 
can be found for the spawn to be deposited in; and 
that toads are either reproduced in the same man- 



ner, or from the egg directly. The latter mode 
seems most likely ; owing to spawn having been 
found previously to the young toads. Mr. Higgin- 
bottom tells me, that the same remark on the birth 
of the Triton, without the stage of tadpole, has 
been mentioned to him.—H. J. Lows. 

The Sole-—The common sole, probably from 
the comparative smallness of its size, is seldom, 
if ever, caught by bait; only by the trawling-net. 
Soles are found in great abundance on the coast of 
England, from Sussex to Devonshire, and on the 
shores of various counties of Ireland. The sole 
is full of roe in February, and approaches the 
shore to spawn about the end of that month, or the 
beginning of March ; after which, it is extremely 
soft and watery, and unfit for use. After spawning, 
the sole retreats into deep water; and in the course 
of six weeks or two months, recovers its strength. 
Like the rest of the finny tribe, its flavor is finest 
when caught in deep water; before the roe or 
milt is much developed. But in consequence of 
its being rather shy of bait of any kind, it is not 
then easily taken. This fish, it is said, thrives in 
fresh water; where it will grow to double the size 
of the salt-water sole. It isin good season through- 
out the entire year, with the exception of the 
months of February, March, and April.— 
Henny R, 

Butter.—The largest quantity of butter from a 
given weight of food, and the richest milk, are 
yielded by the milk of the smaller races. The 
small Alderney, or Jersey, West Highland, and 
Kerry cows, give a richer milk than even the small 
Ayrshire. But the small Shetlander is said to 
surpass themall. These breeds are all hardy, and 
will pick up a subsistence from pastures on which 
other breeds would starve. The quantity of butter 
yielded by different eows in the same yard, and 
eating the same food, is sometimes very different. 
Some will yield only three or four pounds, a week; 
while more will give eight or nine pounds, and a 
few fifteen pounds a week. As a rare instance, I 
may mention that a cow has been known in Lan- 
cashire to yield upwards of twenty-two pounds 
in seven days.—PROFESSOR JOHNSTONE. 

Average Duration of Life.—Professor Bu- 
chanan makes the following obsei vations upon the 
average duration of life—the effect, in part, of the 
improvements in medical science. He says that, 
in the latter part of the sixteenth century, one- 
half of all that were born died under five years of 
age, and that the average longevity of the’ whole 
population was but eighteen years. In the seven- 
teenth, one-half the population lived over twenty- 
seven years. In the latter forty years, one-half ex- 
ceeded thirty-two years of age. At the beginning 
of the present century, one-half exceeded forty 
years; and from 1838 to 1845 one half exceeded 
forty-three. The average longevity of these suc- 
cessive periods has been increased from cighteen 
years in the sixteenth century, up to forty-three 
and seven-tenths by our last reports —D. C. 

Reading at Dinner—-A very frequent cause of 
nervous affections originates in intense or unsea- 
sonable application of the mind—such as in reading 
while at dinner. By this untimely exercise of the 
