266 THE ZOOLOGiSt. 



in the daytime, and may equally have merited the appellation 

 of " Dutch Nightingale," or " Whaddon Organ." 



Returning to the subject, we next have in * The Zoologist' for 

 1844 a tolerably good figure (p. 467), an additional note by 

 Mr. F. Bond (p. 677), in which he states that the frog is very 

 abundant in Foulmire Fen, and a note by Bell (p. 727) giving 

 some of the characters distinguishing the new frog from the 

 common species. 



In 1847 (Zool. p. 1821) we have a communication by J. 

 Wolley, questioning whether the Edible Frog is a true native of 

 Britain, and learn that Foulmire Fen is drained, and the frogs 

 have dispersed (or become extinct). Remarking on the occur- 

 rence at the same place of the Edible Snail, Helix j^omatia, he 

 adds : — " 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 ? " 



The second edition of Bell's 'British Reptiles' (1849) adds 

 nothing to our knowledge, except that he published the above- 

 mentioned remarks of his father on the "Whaddon Organs"; 

 and a figure taken from British specimens is given. 



The question remained undealt with till 1859, when Prof. 

 A. Newton wrote an article in 'The Zoologist' (p. 6538), relating 

 his discovery in 1853 of the Edible Frog in Norfolk, between 

 Thetford and Scoulton, and published the following important 

 letter from Mr. George Berney : — " I went to Paris in 1837 ; 

 some letters which I wrote from that place, and which now lie 

 before me, fix the date with certainty : I brought home 200 

 Edible Frogs and a great quantity of spawn. These were 

 deposited in the ditches in the meadows at Morton, in some 

 ponds at Hockering, and some were placed in the fens at 

 Fouldeu, near Stoke Ferry. They did not like the meadows, 

 and left them for ponds. I found some in a pond at the top of 

 Honingham Heights, near the old telegraph. I have measured 

 the distance on a map, three chains to an inch, this morning, 



and find it to be, in a straight line, If mile and 40 yards 



In 1841 I imported another lot from Brussels. In 1842 I brought 

 over from St. Omer 1300 in large hampers These were dis- 

 persed about in the above-mentioned places, and many hundreds 

 were put into the fens at Fouldeu and in the neighbourhood." 



