habitants of Cathay, knowing
their own weakness as regards the lamb tree, might possess a
fellow-feeling for their visitor's credulity, knowing well, from
experience, the readiness with which a "gret marvayle" could be
evolved and sustained.

Passing from the sphere of the mythical and marvellous as represented
in mediaeval times, we may shortly discuss a question, which, of all
others, may justly claim a place in the records of Zooelogical
curiosities--namely, the famous and oft-repeated story of the "Toad
from the solid rock," as the country newspapers style the incident.
Regularly, year by year, and in company with the reports of the
sea-serpent's reappearance, we may read of the discoveries of toads
and frogs in situations and under circumstances suggestive of a
singular vitality on the part of the amphibians, of more than usual
credulity on the part of the hearers, or of a large share of
inventive genius in the narrators of such tales. The question
possesses for every one a certain degree of interest, evoked by the
curious and strange features presented on the face of the tales. And
it may therefore not only prove an interesting but also a useful
study, if we endeavor to arrive at some just and logical conceptions
of these wonderful narrations.

[Illustration]

Instances of the discovery of toads and frogs in solid rocks need not
be specially given; suffice it to say, that these narratives are
repeated year by year with little variation. A large block of stone or
face of rock is detached from its site, and a toad or frog is seen
hereafter to be hopping about in its usual lively manner. The
conclusion to which the bystanders invariably come is that the animal
must have been contained within the rock, and that it was liberated by
the dislodgement of the mass. Now, in many instances, cases of the
appearance of toads during quarrying operations have been found, on
close examination, to present no evidence whatever that the appearance
of the animals was due to the dislodgement of the stones. A frog or
toad may be found hopping about among some recently formed debris, and
the animal is at once seized upon and reported as having emerged from
the rocks into the light of day. There is in such a case not the
slightest ground for supposing any such thing; and the animal may more
reasonably be presumed to have simply hopped into the debris from its
ordinary habitat. But laying aside narratives of this kind, which lose
the