1 64 DIVERSIONS OF A NATURALIST 



the South of England. The blue variety of the edible 

 frog has been seen in various localities in Germany and 

 along the valley of the Rhone. It owes its colour, as 

 does the blue tree-frog, to the suppression of yellow 

 pigment in its skin. The one I found was swimming 

 in a small clear pool with two other very finely-marked 

 specimens of the more usual colouring. A blue variety 

 of our common brown frog has not been observed, 

 although it is occasionally very pale in colour and, on 

 the other hand, is sometimes of a bright orange-brown 

 tint. Several species of toads and frogs are found on 

 the Continent which do not occur in Great Britain. 



Years ago (when France and Germany began the 

 great war of 1869-70) I travelled from Geneva to 

 Chamonix by coach. It took the whole day. Now I 

 and my companion, avoiding the railway, were driven 

 in a motor-car past Bonneville, Cluses, and Sallanches 

 (with its famous view of Mont Blanc), and along the vale 

 of Chamonix to its far end above Argentiere in less than 

 three hours. Here we stayed a few days in the Hotel 

 du Planet, at a height of 4500 feet, in order to enjoy 

 the sight of the meadows and woodland flowers. I 

 may add that in this quiet hotel the proprietor gave 

 us simple, good food, well cooked, which is more than 

 I can say of the large hotels on the lakes and popular 

 resorts, such as Geneva, Montreux, Glion, and Inter- 

 laken, where I have carefully inquired into the kitchen 

 arrangements and food supplies. The latter barrack-like 

 edifices have of late years become intolerable owing to 

 the mechanical supply to them (by a group of monopolist 

 financiers who have acquired the contract) of the nastiest 

 ice-stored fish, meat, and vegetables. These are heated 

 in their kitchens with bottled sauces in patent ovens 

 by underpaid scullery-helps, without the superintendence 



