/s the Pros:; ci Native of I retail d ? m 



general surroundings and climate may 1)L' perfectly suited to 

 their requirements. 



In invertebrate animals artificial introduction almost invari- 

 ably fails. The Journals of Natural History Societies abound 

 in records of the details of such attempts, and surprise is often 

 expressed at the fact that not a single specimen has survived 

 after a year or two, out of the dozens which were set at liberty. 



Now anyone would suppose that it must be a very easy thing 

 to introduce the Edible Frog into such a country as England, 

 for its range all over Continental Europe proves that it must 

 be indifferent as to whether the climate is wet or dry. Yet 

 although about 2,000 living specimens, and a great quantity of 

 spawn were brought by Mr. Berney^ from France (he not 

 being aware that the Italian variety of the Edible Frog al- 

 ready existed in the countr}^), and deposited in the ponds and 

 ditches of Norfolk, between the 3'ears 1837 ^"<^1 1842, ver}- few 

 remain in the neighbourhood at the present day, after fifty 

 years, to tell the tale. They have not spread, either, to any of 

 the surrounding counties, for, curiously enough, although 

 the Edible Frog is common in some of the eastern counties 

 of England, Mr. Boulenger^ points out that all the speci- 

 mens, the capture of which has hitherto been recorded, are 

 not the descendants of those introduced by Mr. Berney, but 

 are of Italian type and origin. The suggestion that the Italian 

 type of the Edible Frog has been introduced at a much earlier 

 date than the French tj^pe, by monks from Italy, appears to 

 Mr. Boulengers to be the most plausible explanation, but 

 how the poor monks in the good old days could have carried 

 live frogs or even spawn from Italy, with the primitive means 

 of conveyance then at their disposal, he leaves us to imagine ! 



Mr. Berney's ignorance of the pre-existence of the Edible 

 Frog in the very neighbourhood in which he sought, with so 

 much trouble and expense, to establish it, is worth noting in 

 connection with this attempt at introduction. It shows how 

 oblivious of the lower forms of animal life even those much 

 interested in them may be. 



To return to the subject of the Frog in Ireland, Dr. Joyce 



4 G. A. Boulenger, "Note on the Kdible Frog in England," rroc. 



Zool. Soc, 1884. 



5 G. A. Boulenger, "On the Origin of the Edible Frog in England, 



Zoologist, 3rd series, vol. viii., 1884. 



B 



