drawne they should see." It chanced however that one of the knights, being stung by an adder on the knee, was unintentionally the cause of bringing on a bloody combat between the opposing armies The circumstance is thus narrated ·

"When the knighte found him wounded sore,

And saw the wild worme hanging there,
His sworde he from his scabbarde drew;
A piteous case as ye shall heare.

"For when the two hostes saw the sworde
They joyned battayle instantlye,

'Till of soe many noble knightes

On one side there were left but three."

"The

Dr. Clarke, in speaking of the common snake, remarks movements of this species are highly elegant. Its course among grass or underwood is performed in a zigzag direction; the head and neck are thrust forward alternately to the right and left, whilst the rest of the body follows precisely the same course. In its progress the head pushes aside the blades of grass or other yielding bodies, and the remainder of the body follows without communicating any motion to them; and in this way a snake will often steal across a meadow, or through a thicket, unperceived by a person standing at a little distance."* In contrast with the clear and simple statement here given, of the movements of the common English snake, it is interesting to place the magnificent description so well known to every reader of Paradise Lost.'

"So spake the enemy of mankind, enclosed
In serpent, inmate bad! and toward Eve
Addressed his way; not with indented wave
Prone on the ground as since, but on his rear
Circular base of rising folds, that tower'd
Fold above fold, a surging maze! his head
Crested aloft, and carbuncle his eyes,
With burnished neck of verdant gold, erect
Amidst his circling spires that on the grass
Floated redundant." ― Book ix.

Like many other now exploded specifics, the flesh of serpents, or the liquid, especially wine, in which they were infused, was held of peculiar efficacy for the cure of disease, and as an antidote to poison. These ideas, preposterous as they may now appear, were not " quietly inurned" until the last century was far advanced.

* Mag. Nat. Hist. 1838, p. 479.

By Dr. Owen's

work on serpents, published in London in 1762, we are informed that "their flesh, either roasted or boiled, the physicians unanimously prescribe as an excellent restorative, particularly in consumptions and leprosy."

It is not my intention to enter into any disquisition on the fabulous animals mentioned by Shakspeare, but in treating of the Reptilia it is impossible not to advert to creatures mentioned by him, which were at one time included under that term, though now regarded solely as the offspring of imagination. Thus we find the dragon mentioned by Lear, in a burst of his inconsiderate rage against Cordelia,—

"Come not between the dragon and his wrath."

Act i. Scene i.

And again by Juliet, in the anguish of her feelings consequent upon the death of Tybalt and banishment of Romeo,

"O serpent heart, hid with a flow'ring face!

Did ever dragon keep so fair a cave?"

Act iii. Scene ii.

Thus also we find the basilisk frequently introduced, and always in a manner consonant to the powers with which it had been invested by tradition. As an example, may be quoted the words addressed by King Henry the Sixth to Suffolk.

"Look not upon me, for thine eyes are wounding:

Yet do not go away;-come, basilisk,

And kill the innocent gazer with thy sight."

Act iii. Scene ii.

From the Reptilia let us now turn to the Amphibia, a class of animals comprising very few species in these countries, but highly interesting to the scientific naturalist, from the modifications of form, organization and habits, which they display. For information on these points I refer the reader to the luminous and excellent work of Professor Bell, and shall merely advert to them, so far as may be needful, for the illustration of those passages in Shakspeare in which some of these creatures are introduced.

In the metamorphoses of the common frog we have changes more wonderful than a poet would imagine, yet brought to light by the sober and stedfast observations of the man of science; thus furnishing one of the countless examples that "Truth is always strange, stranger than fiction." Into these matters I am not required to enter. The "toe of frog" occurs in the witches' chaldron, and the young state

of the animal is noticed by Demetrius in the line

"I'll broach the tadpole on my rapier's point."

Titus And. Act iv. Scene ii.

Another passage, in which the creature is mentioned in both these states, will be given hereafter.

The common toad (Bufo vulgaris) belongs, like the frog, to the order Anoura of Bell. It is perfectly innocuous, living on earth-worms, slugs, caterpillars, and insects, thus giving actual assistance to the husbandman, in keeping his most common assailants within due bounds. Did we not, in other instances, know how potent are the workings of imagination, and how tacitly men occasionally surrender to them their senses and their reason, it might well seem incredible that the toad was formerly regarded as "highly poisonous, and this not only from its bite; its breath, and even its glance, were fraught with mischief or death."* So perfectly were these malign influences accredited, that Pliny enumerates several plants as forming "a singular counter-poison against the venome of toads and serpents." At a time when such ideas were still current, it was natural that in the sorceries of the weird sisters such an animal should be placed in the very foremost rank;

"Toad that under the cold stone
Days and nights hath thirty-one,
Sweltered venom sleeping got,

Boil thou first i' the charmed pot!"

In perfect accordance with the opinions and feelings of his day are the several passages in which the toad is mentioned by Shakspeare; and so entirely do they give utterance to the popular opinion, to the exclusion of any other particulars in the economy of the animal, that a mere quotation of a few of the most striking is all that is here necessary. Juliet's garrulous old nurse, in speaking of Paris, says her mistress "had as lieve see a toad, a very toad, as see him; "" and Lady Anne, when showering her reproaches on Gloster, says —

"Never hung poison on a fouler toad.

Out of my sight! thou dost infect my eyes."

Richard III. Act i. Scene ii.

While we appreciate the poetic beauty of the language used by Othello,―

* Bell, p. 112.

"I had rather be a toad, and live upon the vapour of a dungeon,"

Act iii. Scene ii.

we may perhaps be justified in supposing that the food of the creature was then as little known as its real powers and habits. In a line in Romeo and Juliet' there is embalmed a curious traditionary error, "Some say the lark and loathed toad change eyes,"

Act iii. Scene v.

A passage in 'As you

an idea which probably took its origin from a notion that the bright full eye of the toad was more suitable for the bird that at "heaven's gate sings" than for a reptile so "loathed." like it' demands more deliberate attention: it is one of those which, like sterling coin, has passed into general circulation, and scarcely suggests to our mind the recollection of the rich mint from which it came and, as the gold has its alloy, so here we have the moral truth and the legendary error.

Much commentary has been expended on these lines, but from Douce's Illustrations we learn-what is probably the true solution of the enigma-that the common people of England "made superstitious uses of a real jewel that always could be found in a toad's head; and that, according to popular belief, "the toad before her death sucks up, if not prevented by sudden surprisal, the precious stone (as yet but a jelly) in her head, grudging mankind the good thereof." -p. 294.

In Ireland the common toad is unknown; but our tutelary saint has left us the smaller species (Bufo calamita), the natterjack. It has been found in three or four localities in the county Kerry, and at Ross bay, county Cork.

The remainder of the British Amphibia belong to the order Urodela, and family Salamandrida. They consist of four species of newts, of which two only have as yet been noticed in Ireland.

The newt, like others of the tribe, is enumerated among the ingredients of the charmed chaldron, so frequently mentioned; and the term "gilded newt," which has been also quoted, indicates the bright orange colour visible on the body of the male eft during the spring. Among the best known passages in which newts are introduced, is that where Edgar, in his assumed character of poor Tom, speaks

of eating "the swimming frog, the toad, the tadpole, the wall-newt, and the water-newt;" thus showing that distinctions, existing even among these amphibious creatures, did not escape the observant and discriminating eye of Shakspeare. The only species of newt (Lissotriton punctatus) common in the north of Ireland, is there well known by the name of "Mankeeper," and is an object of apprehension to the uneducated, from the idea that it is prone to jump down the throat of any one whom it may find sleeping!

*แ

Pliny informs us that "the Salamander is able to destroy whole nations at one time, if they take not heed and provide to prevent them." Such an opinion of its malignant powers was most probably never at any time current in these countries, for on this point Shakspeare is altogether silent; and the only mention of the creature occurs where Falstaff, addressing Bardolph, says, with reference to the nose of that worthy,

"I have maintained that Salamander of yours with fire any time this two-andthirty years."-1st part K. Henry VI. Act iii. Scene iii.

Belfast, September, 1843.

R. PATTERSON.

Note on the occurrence of the edible Frog in Cambridgeshire. I have the pleasure of recording in 'The Zoologist,' the capture of the edible frog (Rana esculenta, Linn.) for the first time I believe in this country. Two specimens were taken by my friend, C. Thurnall, Esq., of Duxford, in Foulmire fen, Cambridgeshire, in September last. They are now in the British Museum, J. E. Gray, Esq., the curator, having kindly determined the species for me. There is a beautiful figure of this frog in Bell's British Reptiles,' p. 104, taken from a foreign specimen. - Fred. Bond; Kingsbury, November 23, 1843.

[I should be much obliged for a drawing and detailed description of this interesting addition to our British Vertebrata.--E. N.]

Account of a species of Sea Bream new to the British Fauna, and perhaps hitherto undescribed. By JONATHAN COUCH, Esq., F.L.S.

On the 2nd of September, 1843, a fisherman took with one of his ordinary baits, a sea-bream, which he presently discerned never before to have fallen under his notice; and in consequence it was transferred to my possession as soon as he reached the land, which was before sufficient time had elapsed to allow it to undergo any change. Its length was 1 foot 2 inches, the greatest depth 9 inches, and, in

*Book 29, p. 358.