300 



THE GEOLOGIST. 



this morning, I came across the following extract in a review of Pennant's British 

 Zoology then just published, with some remarks of Mr. How ; which passages, 

 I think 'have a valuable bearing on the questions raised by some of your corre- 

 spondents about hve toads and frogs in sohd stone ; as the existence of such 

 batrachians, mclosed in the sohd wood of trees, tends to strengthen your valuable 

 arguments of the recent development of those animals m such situations.— Yours 

 truly F. S. A."—" To conclude the account (of the toad) with the marvellous, the 

 •animal is said to have often been found in the midst of solid rocks, and even in 

 the centre of growing trees, imprisoned in a small hollow, to which there was not 

 the least adit or entrance ; how the animal- breathed, or how it subsisted (sup- 

 posing the possibility of its confinement), is past our comprehension. Plot's 

 solution of this phenomenon is far from satisfactory ; yet, as we have the great 

 Bacon's authority for the fact, we do not entu-ely deny our assent to it. Besides, 

 Plot's and Bacon's authority we can quote anotlier for this fact, viz. Bradley in 

 his ' Philosophical Account of the Works of Nature,' p. 164, where he says, 

 ' We have instances of toads that have been found in small cavities in the middle 

 of large blocks of hard stone.' And I was once eye-witness of a toad which was 

 sawed out of the centre or heart of the trunk of a large oak. At Catsgrove, near 

 Reading, a spider was found in the middle of a solid Hint. It was alive, but died 

 instantly on being exposed to the air. The cavity in which it was inclosed was 

 as smooth as if polished, of an oval shape, about three-fourths of an inch in length, 

 and about half an inch over. — D. H." 



REVIEWS. 



Geological Map of Central Europe, compiled from the newest materials. By H. 

 Bach. 



{Geologische Karte von Central Europe nach dem neuesten Materialen hearheitet. Von 

 Heinrich Bach.) Stuttgart : E. Schweizerbach. London : Williams and 

 Norgate. 1859. 



This is a very good chromo-lithographed map, 25 by 21 inches in size. It 

 includes the greater part of England and Wales (as high up as Newcastle, and as 

 far westwardly as Whitehaven and Portland), and it reaches to Seeland and 

 Bernholm on the North of Europe ; to Dantzic, Cracow, and the Carpathians, 

 on the East ; to Perugia, Toulon, and the Pyrenees, on the South ; and takes in 

 Deux, Bordeaux, Nantes, and St. Malo, in its western border. The tertiary areas 

 of London, Hants, Paris, Brussels, Bordeaux, Switzerland, and Vienna are recog- 

 nised at a glance, and readily show their relation to the later Tertiaries of 

 North Germany, Northern Italy, &c. on the one hand, and to the Secondary 

 rocks on the other. So also the Jurassic area (after Oppel) and the older forma- 

 tions, are clearly seen in their geological and physical relations to the other rocks, 

 and to the present geography of England and Europe. The Gneissic plateau of 

 Central France, and the porphyritic areas of Thuringia and Bohemia, also stand 

 well out, without interfering too strongly with the other colours. With the 

 explanation of the colours, are succinct German, French, and English tables of 

 the strata, so that this map will be available in the hands of any one wanting a 

 good general geological map of Central Europe, portable, and of moderate price. 



