REPTILES IN THE TARN AND THE GREEN LANES. 3 



possibility of obtaining fresh food to supply the 

 waste, death must ensue in a greater or less time. 

 Hence when living frogs are found in rock fissures, 

 we may safely conclude that they cannot have been 

 there many years, even if they have been there so 

 long. 



Our ' common British frog is not the same species 

 as is eaten in France, although we long believed 

 that it was. The latter is the Edible Frog (Eana 

 esculenta), and is rather rare with us; not absent, 



Fig. 68. 



Head of Edible Frog. 



as some naturalists have supposed. Nay, we nave 

 actually introduced it into British gastronomy, 

 and frog's legs may be bought in tins whenever 

 the reader should feel inclined to experiment on 

 a new article of food. The edible frog, in its choice 

 of habitat, nearly resembles its commoner relative. 

 It is not difficult to identify by its greater size, its 

 triangular shaped head and prominent eyes. The 

 body, in some respects, partakes of the character of 

 the toad, in being covered with a series of scattered 

 warts. Its colour is generally of a greenish tint, 

 and its length about three inches. The hind legs 

 are the parts selected for food, and these are said, 



a 2 



