al animal. Then, secondly, in the
adult frog or toad, the naturalist would point to the importance of
the skin as not only supplementing, but, in some cases, actually
supplanting the work of the lungs as the breathing organ. Frogs and
toads will live for months under water, and will survive the excision
of the lungs for like periods; the skin in such cases serving as the
breathing surface. A third point worthy of remembrance is included in
the facts just related, and is implied in the information that these
animals can exist for long periods without food, and with but a
limited supply of air. We can understand this toleration on the part
of these animals when we take into consideration their cold-blooded
habits, which do not necessitate, and which are not accompanied by,
the amount of vital activity we are accustomed to note in higher
animals. And, as a last feature in the purely scientific history of
the frogs and toads, it may be remarked that these animals are known
to live for long periods. One pet toad is mentioned by a Mr. Arscott
as having attained, to his knowledge, the age of thirty-six years; and
a greater age still might have been recorded of this specimen, but for
the untoward treatment it sustained at the hands, or rather beak, of a
tame raven. In all probability it may be safely assumed that, when the
conditions of life are favorable, these creatures may attain a highly
venerable age--regarding the lapse of time from a purely human and
interested point of view.

We may now inquire whether or not the foregoing considerations may
serve to throw any light upon the tales of the quarryman. The first
point to which attention may be directed is that involved in the
statement that the amphibian has been imprisoned in a _solid_ rock.
Much stress is usually laid on the fact that the rock was solid; this
fact being held to imply the great age, not to say antiquity, of the
rock and its supposed tenant. The impartial observer, after an
examination of the evidence presented, will be inclined to doubt
greatly the justification for inserting the adjective "solid"; for
usually no evidence whatever is forthcoming as to the state of the
rock prior to its removal. No previous examination of the rock is or
can be made, from the circumstance that no interest can possibly
attach to its condition until its removal reveals the apparent wonder
it contained, in the shape of the live toad. And it is equally
important to note that we