SCOTTISH PROG. 103 



cies described as R. esculenta^ by the only two persons wlio 

 have assigned any locality for it, may possibly be a new one. 

 Pennant describes a Frog under the name of the " Great 

 Frog," as a native of the woods near Loch Ransa in the Isle 

 of Arran ; but he does not give any authority, and from his 

 description, which, however, is .very slight, there is no doubt 

 that the animal was nothing more than the Common Toad. 



Being naturally anxious to ascertain so interesting a point, 

 I determined upon procuring all the information in my power 

 respecting it ; and on writing to Sir William Jardine upon 

 the subject, I obtained from him, with his accustomed kind- 

 ness and liberality, the opportunity of examining the iden- 

 tical skeleton upon which Dr. Stark"'s notices were made. 

 My excellent friend Bibron also kindly sent me several spe- 

 cimens of the true R. esculenta ; and I have now before me 

 the skeleton of the Scottish Frog, that of the Edible Frog 

 from France, and that of the Common Frog of England. 

 I have given at the head of this article a figure of the cra- 

 nium of each species ; that on the left being R. temporaria, 

 the centre figure the Scottish Frog, and that on the right 

 R. esculenta. Even a cursory glance will show that the pre- 

 sent species is more remote in the general form of the cra- 

 nium from the R. esculenta, with which it has been con- 

 founded, than it is from the Common English Frog. The 

 "whole animal is of very large size, the skeleton being nearly 

 one-third longer than that of either of the other species ; and 

 it will be observed that the general form of the cranium is 

 much less elongated and more obtuse than in the Edible 

 Frog, — a character which it possesses in common with the 

 Rana temporaria. The parietal bones are scarcely as broad 

 as they are in the latter, although the cranium is more than 

 one-fourth longer ; and those of the edible species are still 

 narrower in proportion than in either of the others. The 

 detail of the osteology does not afl^ord many distinctions of 

 importance ; but it may be mentioned, amongst other trifling 



