ich the editor wisely
leaves his readers to judge for themselves.

In May 1844, the Rev. J. Pemberton Bartlett of Kingston, in Kent, an
experienced naturalist, mentions the following fact as having just come
under his own notice:--"Only a few weeks since, in cutting down a
fir-tree here, the workman discovered, completely imbedded in the
centre, a Toad, which had doubtless been there some years, as the tree
had completely grown over it; it must have been kept alive by absorbing
the moisture of the tree. It was not in a completely torpid state, and
after being exposed to the air a few hours, it crawled in true toad-like
style. The age of the tree in which it was found was, as far as I could
judge from the number of circles, about twenty-five years."[98]

In reply to an inquiry whether he himself saw the Toad, and counted the
timber-rings, Mr Bartlett favours me with the following note:--

"EXBURY PARSONAGE, NEAR SOUTHAMPTON,
_February 22, 1861_.

"DEAR SIR,-- ... _I_ quite believe that Toads _do_ live in stone, but I
have found it very difficult to get the facts from eye-witnesses. The
imbedded Toad in the fir-tree, mentioned by me in the _Zoologist_, I
saw, and, as stated there, I counted the rings of the tree. I believe it
to have been the common Toad; but it looked rather more flabby, and not
quite so round in its proportions, as toads generally do; in fact,
instead of being 'puffed up' as they commonly are, it was considerably
_down in the mouth_, from its close imprisonment! The cavity in which it
was fixed appeared to have been originally a crack or fissure in the
side of the tree; whether caused by decay, or made by a nuthatch or some
other bird, I cannot say. The wound appeared to have healed, as the bark
had apparently closed over it. The question now arises, Was the Toad
_young_ when it got into the hollow? and did it grow after it became a
prisoner? Or had it come to years of discretion, when it took that
unfortunate step, or rather crawl, into the cavity where it was so long
to be imprisoned? And _why did_ it remain there so quietly, while the
bark gradually grew over its prison-house? The answer that I should
give to the first of these questions would be, that probably it had
arrived at a state of _toadhood_ when it took refuge in the tree, and
_did not_ grow afterwards. My theory why it remained ensconced there so
quietly is this, that pro