mouth of its hole, pulled it out, and so wounded it that it died not a great while afterwards*.

The Spider was formerly considered an inveterate enemy to the Toad; and it has been said that, whenever these animals met, a contest always took place, in which, from its superior dexterity and address, the former often proved victorious. If this relates to the European Spiders and Toads, it is, most surely, altogether devoid of foundation.

In the conclusion of this article it may be expected that I should not leave entirely unnoticed the observations that have been made respecting living Toads being found inclosed in solid substances.-Though it is necessary that some allowances should be made for that natural love of the marvellous which pervades the great mass of mankind, yet we have too many respectable authorities to vouch for the fact, and too frequent instances of its recurrence, to allow us to doubt that these animals have been discovered alive in blocks of stone, and in the solid trunks of trees.

To account for so extraordinary a phænomenon, a French writer, M. Lecat, says that some philosophers have been of opinion that the eggs of these animals, created at the beginning of the world, and floating about on the watery expanse, have since that time continued inclosed in the interior parts of rocks. But he contradicts this opinion by remarking that the creation of an egg is not sufficient ;

* Penn. Brit. Zool. App. vol. iii. p. 380. 388.

and that it must be hatched in order to produce a living creature. He considers it also as impossible that such animals can be as old as the stones or substances in which they are found; and rather thinks that a hatched egg, in all the cases mentioned, may have fallen by chance into some small cavity where it was secured from petrifaction. He remarks that eggs, when rubbed over with varnish, so as to be defended from the effects of the air, may be preserved fruitful for years; and, therefore, believes that an egg, so secured in the centre of a rock, might retain its activity for thousands of years: hence he concludes that the egg is of great antiquity, but not the animal*.

At a period like the present, when so many things are made the subject of experiment, and nature is compelled as it were to discover her most hidden secrets, it is somewhat surprising that she has not been put to the proof in this respect. Such experiments would require little or no expense: it would only be necessary to make a deep hole in a stone, inclose some animal in it, and prevent the air from penetrating it: or eggs only might be put into the stone. As most of the animals found in stones are of the amphibious kind, it would be proper to study the habits, nature, and mode of living peculiar to that class; and it would be attended with most advantage if several experiments were made at the same time, in order that the state of the ani

Mélanges d'Histoire Naturelle, vol. iv.

mals at different periods might be examined. By these means alone some certain conclusions might be drawn respecting a circumstance which, at present, seems to surpass the powers of comprehension.

THE PIPA*.

The Pipa is a native of Surinam, and at first view appears an extremely hideous and deformed animal. It is considerably larger than our Toad, has a flattish body, and a somewhat triangular head. The mouth is very wide, and furnished at the edges or corners with a kind of cutaneous appendage.

The fore-feet have four long and thin toes, each divided at the tip into four distinct parts, which, when inspected with a magnifier, are found to be each again obscurely subdivided almost in a similar manner. The hind-feet have five toes united by a web.

This creature, in the production of its young, affords a very singular deviation from the usual course of nature. On the back of the female are formed certain cavities, opening outward, and somewhat resembling the cells of a bee-hive. They are of a circular form, about half an inch deep, and each nearly a quarter of an inch in diameter. They are at a little distance from each

SYNONYMS. Rana Pipa. Linn.-Le Pipa, ou Cururu. La Cepede.-Surinam Toad.-Shaw's Gen. Zool, vol. iii. tab. 50, 51.

other, and somewhat irregularly ranged. At a certain period of incubation, if it may be so called, in each of these shells is found a little live Toad, an exact miniature in all respects of its parent; but how it finds subsistence there (for the creature has no adhesion to the parent, but may be easily taken out, as from a case, and again replaced without in jury) does not seem as yet to be fully ascertained. Mr. Ferman, who has described this animal, declares himself to have been an eye-witness to the procedure. The eggs are generated within the fe male, who, when they have attained the proper degree of maturity, deposits them on the ground. The male amasses together the heap, and deposits them, with great care, on the back of the female, where after impregnation they are pressed into the cellules, which are at that period open for their reception, and afterwards close over them. The ova remain in the cellules till the second birth, which takes place in somewhat less than three months, when the young emerge from the back of the parent, completely formed. During the time of con cealment they undergo the usual change of the rest of the genus, into the tadpole state, which they entirely put off before their final extrusion.

In this singular production of young, the Pipa seems to bear considerable analogy to the different species of Opossum.

Ferman says that the Pipa is only calculated for having one breed. The number of young produced by a female that he observed was seventy-five; and

they were all perfected in the space of five days after the first appeared*.

It would seem that the flesh of this Toad is not unwholesome, as, according to Madame Merian, the negroes of Surinam eat of it with pleasure, and suffer no inconvenience from its usef.

THE LIZARD TRIBE.

THE Lizards, from, in many instances, an unpleasant appearance, have, like the Toad, obtained the repute of being venomous. The whole tribe however is perfectly destitute of poison; and, except in three or four of the enormously large species, altogether inoffensive to mankind.

They are chiefly inhabitants of the warmer regions, and in general possess considerable agility. The larger ones live on animals, which they seize by stratagem, and the smaller ones on insects. Many of them serve mankind for food. The aquatic species undergo a metamorphosis, being first in a larva state. Most of them are produced from eggs externally, but some are brought forth alive. In this genus are found nearly the largest and the smallest animals in the creation.

* Anderson's Recreations, ii. 32.-Shaw's Gen. Zool. iii. 167. + Dissert. de Generat. et Metamorph. Insect. Surinam. quoted in La Cepede, ii. 315.