312 THE VIVARIUM. 
one of the greatest authorities on things concerning Batrachians, 
has said that ‘‘the current notion that the flesh of this Frog 
(Rana esculenta) is more valued than that of its Huropean 
congeners, is entirely erroneous. The Frogs sold in the markets 
of Paris, Brussels, and Geneva are almost invariably Rana 
temporaria, Which are commoner and more easily caught.” 
Anyone who has tried to catch Edible Frogs will certainly 
endorse what Mr. Boulenger says about their not being so readily 
procured as the more plentiful kind. The activity of R. esculenta 
is certainly very great indeed. Though R. temporaria is more 
easily found and captured than its more agile and aquatic relative, 
its flesh, according to the late Mr. Frank Buckland, is not so 
white and tender as that of the latter animal, which, when 
‘‘cooked, as a Frenchman only knows how to cook, is a very 
good imitation of whitebait.”” He who wishes to test what Mr. 
Buckland has said can procure, I believe, in London tins of 
portions of the Edible Frog already prepared for being cooked 
and compare it as to the colour and tenderness of its flesh with 
that of the common Batrachian. Some people have described the 
flavour of Frog’s cooked flesh as being like that of a rabbit, while 
others say it resembles very young boiled chickens. 
In the First Series of the ‘‘ Curiosities of Natural History,” 
Mr. Buckland says that the woman of whom he bought Edible 
Frogs told him that she employed a man to catch them for her. 
‘*He went out every evening at dusk to the ponds in the 
neighbourhood of Paris, with a lantern and a long stick, to the 
end of which was attached a piece of red cloth. The Frogs were 
attracted by the light to the place where the fisherman stood, 
He then lightly dropped his cloth on the surface of the water. 
The Frogs, imagining that some dainty morsel was placed before 
them, eagerly snapped at it; and their teeth being entangled, 
they become an easy prey, destined for to-morrow’s market, and 
the tender mercies of the fish or rather Frog-woman.”’ 
The same writer also tells us that this Frog “‘is brought from 
the country in quantities of from thirty to forty thousand at a 
time to Vienna, and sold to great dealers, who have conservatories 
for them. These conservatories are large holes, four or five feet 
deep, dug in the ground, the mouth covered with a board, and 
