EDIBLE FROG. 163 



Cambridgeshire Fens at Foulmire a great distance (30 to 40 

 miles) from Stoke Ferry. Bell says his father had noted the 

 presence of these Foulmire frogs, under the name of " Whaddon 

 Organs," about the middle of the eighteenth century ; so that it 

 appeared that Mr. Berney had "taken coals to Newcastle" 

 in other words, had introduced the Edible Frog to a part of 

 England where it already existed. In 1884 Dr. G. A. Boulenger 

 discovered that the Foulmire frogs were of the Italian form of 

 Ranci esciclenta known as the variety lessona, which made it 

 doubtful whether they could be travelled descendants of Mr. 

 Berney's frogs. So it was suggested that they were a survival 

 from an introduction by the Romans who are always dragged 

 in to help out doubtful cases. 



The difference in the French and Italian forms is mainly one 

 of colour, the type being a beautiful grass- green, whereas lessonce 

 is olive-brown. But it has since transpired that lessonce is not 

 restricted to Italy as Boulenger thought, for he has more recently 

 discovered it in Belgium and near Paris, and it has been re- 

 corded from parts of the former Austrian and German Empires. 

 Such differences as there are in the two forms are not funda- 

 mental, and the brown tint of the Foulmire examples may be 

 due to their environment. Fresh importations from the Con- 

 tinent have been liberated in recent years in Hampshire, Surrey, 

 Oxfordshire, and Bedfordshire. 



The Edible Frog attains to a rather larger size than the 

 Common Frog. It is usually without the dark patch extending 

 from the eye to the shoulder, and the markings of the body ' 

 especially the bright yellow and black marblings of the hinder 

 parts are darker and bolder. There is usually a light yellow 

 or green line running down the middle of the back from the 

 muzzle to the hinder extremity. The most distinctive feature, 

 however, is restricted to the male sex : at the hinder angle of 

 the mouth, just below the ear, are external vocal sacs which, 

 when the owner is inclined to be melodious, become distended 



