NATURAL HISTORY NOTES 
215 
the ladpolean fail has disappeared, and spread over the surrounding district in all 
directions. When engaged in this journey these tiny batrachians are often to be 
met with in great numbers. 
Muriel Weston, Thetford, Edmun'D Thos. Daube.w. 
October, 1901. 
Toads. — The following quotations from Buckland’s “Curiosities of Natural 
History,” 7th edition, pp. 42 and following, may interest Mr. Giles Daubeny ana 
others. 
As to bees : “A gentleman in Oxfordshire had a hive of bees in the cavity of 
a wall. A common toad, which had taken up its residence in a hole close by, 
was observed to walk forth and place himself at the mouth of the hive and to 
catch the bees in their coming from and returning to the hive, with much dexterity 
and activity,” &c. 
As to poison : “ Like the lizards they have glands in their skin which secrete 
a white, highly-acid fluid, and just behind the head are seen two eminences like 
split beans. If these be pressed, this acid fluid will come out, only let the 
operator mind that it does not get into his eyes, for it generally comes out with 
a jet. There are also other glands dispersed throughout the skin,” &c. 
Toads in stone, coal, &c. : “ In the year 1825 my father [Dean Buckland] 
tried a series of experiments [which, for humanity’s sake, I trust will not be 
repeated]. On the 26th of November, 1825, one live toad was placed in each of 
twenty-four cells [twelve in Oxford oolite and twelve in compact siliceous sand- 
stone]. On the loth of December, 1826, not only were all the small toads dead, 
but the larger ones appeared much emaciated, with two exceptions [in which cases 
it is suspected that the cells were not perfectly closed]. Before the expiration of 
the second year all the large ones also were dead.” 
The same result followed in the case of five toads plugged up in holes in the 
trunk of an apple tree. Dr. C. G. B. Daubeny took part in these experiments. 
I may mention that in August this year I saw some toads catching winged 
ants as they emerged from the ground on the lawn of a garden in Norfolk. 
Otham Parsonage, F. M. MlLI.ARD. 
Alaidstone. 
Toads and Music. — I have read the paragraphs on toads with much 
interest in Nature Notes. I have not seen any mention in them of a toad’s 
liking for music. An old friend of mine, now dead, used to walk in her garden 
on summer evenings and made friends there with a toad : she used to feed it, I 
remember, with crumbs of sponge cake, and while he was eating them, she used 
to sing to him, to which he listened, apparently with pleasure. Perhaps some of 
your readers may like to try if they have any musical friends amongst their toads. 
66, Kingsgate Street, Winchester, E. Whiting. 
October 0,, 1901. 
A Snail Hunter; Cockchafers. — Looking over what I hav'e said in 
this month’s issue of Nature Notes, on frogs and toads as food, I am reminded 
how useful snails are in this sense. A few years ago I was lodging with a farmer 
at Wrington, in Somersetshire, and one afternoon, as I was taking a walk along 
the road, a man came by carrying a small sack over his shoulder, and having in 
his hand a short iron rod, the end of which was formed into a crook. I noticed 
that he plunged the iron instrument into the banks under the hedges, drawing out 
something which was placed in the sack. On observing him more closely, I saw 
that he was getting snails. I asked him what he was going to do with them, and 
he replied that as soon as the sack was full, he would take the snails into Bristol 
and sell them, as they were very good eating. The old nursery rhyme then, natu- 
rally, came to my mind, which informed us that girls were made of sugar and 
spice and all that’s nice, whereas boys were supposed to be made of slugs and 
snails and puppy dog’s tails, and for the first time it seemed to me that the male 
sex had the advantage as to material of construction. The man was very expert 
at his work, finding the snails by knowing likely places amongst leaves and grass, 
and feeling for them with the crook. 
Fishing on Dartmoor I have constantly seen that after rain many large black 
and yellow slugs make their appearance. Perhaps these would be as good food as 
