in natural history, the toad-stone. This has been received not only among the list of native stones by the generality of authors, but even has held a place among the gems, and is still worn in rings by some people; though undoubtedly it is an extraordinary fossil. There has been a strong opinion in the world, that it was found in the head of an old toad; and that this animal voided it at the mouth, on being put on a red cloth. The general colour of the bufonite is a deep dusky brown; but it varies greatly in this respect in several specimens, some of which are quite black, others of an extremely pale, simple brown, a chestnut colour, liver colour, black, grey, or whitish. The bufonite are usually found immersed in beds of stone; and so little doubt is there of what they have originally been, viz. the petrified teeth of the lupus piscis, or wolf-fish, that part of the jaw of the fish has sometimes been found with the teeth petrified in it. The bufonite are said to be cordial and astringent; many other fanciful virtues are ascribed to them, which the present practice has rejected.