OFFICIAL NOTICES, &c. 
199 
day ; if it is green then a fine day may be expected. If they spawn in the middle 
of ponds, a good harvest and favourable hay season may be looked for ; if at the 
edge of the water it denotes a wet, cold summer. If when walking over the 
commons you hear “ t’ toads quirkin’ ’mid t’ bushes,” be certain the morrow will 
bring a hot, sunny day. There are a few who do believe in poison of frogs and 
toads, and they account for it in this way. It is because the frogs “ take in ” all 
the poison from water. If one be placed in impure water, it will, in a short 
time, render it pure and even fit to drink, although it itself becomes more 
poisonous from having absorbed so much, and will harm anything it spits upon. 
Everyone must know the white froth which surrounds the lava of Cicada spwnaria, 
and which was so plentiful in our gardens and hedges this summer. This is 
known by the name of “ toad-spit,” and it is by many firmly believed to be such ; 
therefore any plant, or part of the plant on which it occurs, “ had best not be 
touched.” One report states that a frog’s mouth is “ made up,” or fastened, for 
half the year ; and another saying is, that if a person holds a little frog between 
their hands until it dies (which the poor thing would soon do), the said person’s 
hands will never perspire again. Frogs are also used medicinally in Yorkshire, 
for if a child with whooping cough be allowed to suck a small one for a few 
moments, it will at once be cured, but a piece of thread must first be fastened to 
the creature’s hind leg to prevent it slipping down the patient’s throat ; because 
if a frog got into anyone's inside it would never die but continue to grow until it 
reached a fabulous size. 
W. M. E. Fowler. 
A New British Snail. — A field in Isleworth produces a variety of Helix 
cantiana, differing from the type only in size, the greatest diameter being about 
fourteen millimetres. This form is the var. minor, of Westerlund (definable as 
similar to the type, but maximum diameter fifteen millimetres or less), but the name 
minor being preoccupied by Moquin-Tandon (1855) the Isleworth form, which 
has not hitherto been recorded for Britain, may he called var. nana. 
Syon Lodge, Isleworth. AnnieS. Fenn. 
WORK OF BRANCHES, OFFICIAL NOTICES, &c. 
The object of the Selborne Society is to unite lovers of Nature for common 
study and the defence of natural objects (birds, plants, beautiful landscapes, &c.) 
against the destruction by which they are constantly menaced. The minimum 
Annual Subscription (which entitles the subscriber to a monthly copy of the 
Society’s Magazine) is 2 S. 6d. All particulars as to membership may be obtained 
from the Secretary of the Selborne Society, 9, Adam Street, Adelphi, \V. C. 
Miss A. B. Harrison, Whitmores, Beckenham, Kent, has kindly undertaken 
the Secretaryship of the Kent Branch, and we hope that it will before long be 
re-organized on a firm footing. May we take this opportunity of pointing out to the 
lion. Secs, that now is the time to hand over to their respective Branches any out- 
lying members that they may have acquired during the year. 
From various quarters news reaches us that Selbornians are not inactive during 
winter time. The lecture season has (as some irreverent foreigner said of the 
English summer) set in with its usual severity, and the various Branches of the 
Selborne Society seem determined to add their quota to that of the other organiza- 
tions by which the British public is enlightened and amused during the long winter 
evenings. The Bath Branch of the Selborne Society has arranged to give three 
lectures at the Literary and Scientific Institution. The circumstance is noteworthy 
from the fact that the enthusiastic and venerable naturalist, the Rev. Leonard 
Blomefield, will inaugurate the series with an address on “ Records of a Rookery.” 
