Die, APPENDIX: NO. XIX. 
it was I suppose rather too early in the year; the Common Frog 
had spawned, and, indeed, there were some young tadpoles, Toads 
were croaking about, and were to be seen in plenty in their usual 
galvanic postures at the bottom of the little river; if my memory 
does not fail me, I also found some of their necklace-like spawn. 
I fished up, perhaps, nearly a dozen Frogs in a landing-net, of 
various ages, and also some Warty Newts, in the pools, but alas ! 
nothing at all eatable! And on both occasions I trudged back to 
Trinity in utter disappointment, and undined. My good old friend 
Tom Rawlinson was with me the second time, with cans, nets, Xc., 
and he rather relieved the monotony of the journey home, by 
showing me the bank of an orchard on which the great white Snail 
abounded, which, as he informed me, with eyes wide open, he had 
seen either gipsies or Italians, I forget which, eat. Tom is knowing 
in such matters, he is “ Tom the pieman ”’ of all the “ feasts ” many 
miles round Cambridge :—an old soldier, a reformed drunkard, a 
teetotaller, an affectionate father, a simple-hearted fellow, a collector 
of insects, eggs, fossils, and everything else, and a protégé of 
“ Perfesser Sedgwick.” His personal appearance I should spoil by 
description,—I liked Old Tom! But to return to the Snails, the 
Helix pomatia of some nomenclature, they are, if I mistake not, 
believed by conchologists to have been originally introduced from 
the Continent, perhaps by Roman monks; may not the Frogs have 
been introduced to eat with them by the same Italians? Or may 
not gipsies or organ boys have brought them over more recently ? 
Or in very modern times may not some have accidentally escaped 
from confinement, or been intentionally turned out by naturalists ? 
Do I not remember an account of a large number of them being in 
the possession of Mr. Gray, of the British Museum, and may not 
some of these have strayed into Cambridgeshire? I am only 
imagining possibilities, but possibilities which seem to myself more 
probable than that the Edible Frog should be a native of Britain, 
and yet confined to Foulmire. It is a matter of some interest in the 
consideration of the geographical distribution of Reptiles. 
It is much to be regretted that Foulmire, as I hear from Mr. Bond, 
is drained! But he tells me he expects the Frogs will disperse, and 
not become extinct. As he informs us that the Frogs of Foulmire are 
well known, and have a name given them in the neighbourhood, 
it would be very interesting if he, or someone at Cambridge, would 
make enquiries as to whether there is any tradition of their first 
appearance at Foulmire. 
May 3rd, 1847. 
