Reptiles and Batrachians of the Edinburgh District, 511 
Bell with numerous specimens of both sexes, and of various 
ages, of the Scottish Frog from the Braid Hills, with the 
result that Bell became convinced “it is nothing more than 
a very large variety of the Common Frog, &. temporaria” — 
vide the second edition of his “ British Reptiles,’ p. 108. In 
this finding subsequent herpetologists concur. 
These large frogs are still to be found in the ponds and 
marshes on the Braid Hills and elsewhere in the neighbour- 
hood of Edinburgh, where I have frequently observed them. 
In the spring of 1888 several, which were found clinging 
together under a stone at the bottom of the lower Braid 
pond, were turned into my garden, where they lived for a 
considerable time. They were unusually large examples, 
but unfortunately I neglected to measure them. A good 
idea, however, of the size to which frogs occasionally grow 
in Scotland is afforded by some measurements given by Mr 
Boulenger in his paper above alluded to (Ann. Scot. Nat. 
Hist., 1893, p. 202) : three specimens—two females and a male 
recently received by him from the North of Scotland, were 
95, 93, and 80 mm. long respectively. The size of ordinary 
examples in our district may be gathered from the dimensions 
of four adult males and a female now before me; the males 
measure respectively 76, 71, 70, and 66 mm., and the female 
80. In one of them the temporal spot, which serves as a 
specific character, may almost be said to be absent, so nearly 
does it correspond with the general ground colour. The 
usual length of the species, according to Bell, is 2 inches 
8 lines=68 mm., but Fatio puts the average size of the 
adult at 73 mm. 
The following discovery of frog remains, made a few years 
ago in a very unexpected quarter, is perhaps worth mention- 
ing. In December 1882, during the extensive alterations 
then being made on St Giles Cathedral, the workmen 
exposed a hole in the wall over one of the arches, in which 
were the shell of an owl’s egg and a large quantity of bones 
—dry and old—chiefly those of small mammals and frogs, 
some of which I secured. The hole must have been 
plastered up for over half a century, and prior to that time 
it had evidently been tenanted for many years by Barn Owls, 
VOL, XII. 2 1 
