357 



THE NATTERJACK TOAD 

 IN CHESHIRE AND LANCASHIRE. 



[We liave received a copy of a paper by Mr. Linnaeus Greening, on 

 ' British Frogs and Toads,' read before the Warrington Field Club, 

 November i8th, 1887, and printed for private circulation, from which 

 we extract the following interesting account of the Natterjack at 

 Wallasey and in two Lancashire localities :] 



Bvfo calami in (Natterjack Toad) ... is decidedly rarer and more 

 local than our other EngHsh toad. . . . On the 2nd April, 1887, 

 Mr. Gregson, Mr. A. Jolley, and myself paid a visit to the Wallasey 

 sand-hills, where this toad abounds. Having arrived on the ground, 

 the veteran naturalist (Mr. Gregson) soon pointed out the outward 

 and visible sign of the den of this creature. This distinguishing sign 

 is the shape of the holes in which the Natterjacks hybernate, and to 

 which they return during the daytime, even after hybernation, being 

 exclusively nocturnal feeders. The entrance to each hole is semi- 

 circular, just large enough to admit its tenants, of which there are 

 usually two, male and female. It is not very pleasant to put your 

 hand down a hole 20 inches deep, and feel soniething cold, which is, 

 or should be, the nose of the toad. After Mr. Gregson had fetched 

 a pair out, without suffering death, we set to work and found 

 considerable numbers. . . . It is a very curious ^act that when 

 first takeYi from their holes they are small, but soon seem to expand 

 or fill up to their normal size. The cause of this, I take it, is the 



inflation of the lungs and skin As a matter of course 



respiration is almost arrested during hybernation. Another curious 

 fact is that although they enter their holes head foremost, yet, when 

 found, their noses always point outwards. The reason is obvious, 

 for amongst the ever-changing faces of the sand-hills, the mouth 

 of the hole may be filled up ; when this happens, the toad lias 

 only to follow his nose, and can then work his way out with little 

 difficulty. 



The fertilization, deposition, and quantity of spawn are as in the 

 common species ; though the pools in which the spawn is laid are 

 usually devoid of water-plants, and consequently the spawn sinks to 

 the bottom. The development of the embryo and larva is more rapid 

 than in the common species. I repeatedly visited the pcK)ls amongst 

 the sand-hills at Wallasey, and found that the adult form was attained 

 39 days after the hatching of the egg. The spawn is usually laid at 

 the end of May, or early in June. The young tadpoles lost their 

 gills on the fourth day ; the hind legs appeared first, and six days 



Dec. 1888. 



