THE EDIBLE FROG. 105 



Thurnall's discovery of the species in September, 1843, at Foul- 

 mire Fen, in Cambridgeshire.* 



The above evidence would appear very conclusive, 

 so far as evidence of that kind could go, had the 

 publication of Mr. Newton's remarks not elicited a 

 reply from Mr. Thomas Bell, which was published in 

 a succeeding number of the same journal, in which 

 his remarks appeared. Mr. Bell says: — 



My father, who was a native of Cambridgeshire, has often de- 

 scribed to me, as long ago as I can recollect, the peculiarly loud, 

 and somewhat musical, sound uttered by the frogs of Whaddon 

 and Foulmire, which procured for them the name of " Whaddon 

 Organs." My father was always of opinion that they were of a 

 different species from the common frog, and this opinion of his, 

 formed nearly a century ago, was confirmed by Mr. ThurnalPs 

 discovery that the frogs of Foulmire are of the species liana 

 esculent a. f 



The croak of the edible frog, as alluded to already, 

 is much louder and more musical than that of the 

 common species. 



" Let me," says a German writer, " recall our 

 summer nights of Northern Germany. When on 

 the wide plain all life is asleep, and the lonesome 

 disquieting groan of the moor-frog is all that is 

 heard sounding from afar, like a summons from the 

 nether world, on a sudden the frog in the pond be- 

 gins to raise his voice. It is an agreeable tenor. He 

 summonses to horary prayers : in a large circle round 



* The Zoologist, p. 393. 

 f lb., p. 6565. 



