374 MR. G. A. BOULENGER ON THE [JuHC 16, 



Mr. Sclater read an extract from a letter addressed to him by 

 Dr. H.Bolau, C.M.Z.S., Director of the Zoological Garden, Hamburg, 

 and dated Hamburg, June 8th. In re[)ly to inquiries Dr. Bolau 

 stated that there were now two examples of Sea-Eagles referred to 

 Haliaetus pelagicus living in the Hamburg Garden. One of these, 

 received as a present from a ship-captain, December 12th, 1882, had 

 been brought from Amoor-land ; the second, received on February 6th, 

 1887, had been presented by another captain, who had obtained it 

 in Corea. The first-named bird was in full plumage and had a large 

 white shoulder-spot, a white tail, and white thighs, as represented by 

 Pallas (' Zoographia,' i. p. 343). But the specimen from Corea, 

 although now more than four years in the Garden, bad not changed 

 in colour. Its tail was white, but the shoulders and thighs showed 

 no traces of this colour, being of a brownish black like the rest of 

 the body. This bird was also larger than that from Amoor-land 

 and had a stronger bill. Dr. Bolau suggested that the Corean bird 

 might be a large female of H. pelagicus, which had not obtained 

 the adult coloration on account of its being kept in captivity ; but 

 Mr. Sclater pointed out that it was undoubtedly the same bird as 

 had been described by Taczanowski in his article ou the birds of 

 Corea (P. Z. S. 1888, p. 452) as Haliaetus branickii, and was a 

 specimen of very great iat;erest, as tending to confirm this somewhat 

 problematical species. 



The only previously known example of H. branickii, upon which 

 the species had been based, had been obtained by the Polish collector 

 Kalinowski at Tsempion, on the coast of Corea, in February 1888. 

 But Kalinowski had stated that he had seen other similar birds in 

 the same country. 



Dr. R. Bowdler Sharpe, F.Z.S., gave a verbal account of the 

 proceedings of the recent International Ornithological Congress at 

 Budapest in which he had taken part. 



The following papers were read : — 



1. A Contribution to the Knowledge of the Races of Rana 

 esculenta and their Geographical Distribution. By G. 



A. BoULENGER. 



[Eeceived May 26, 1891.] 



It is now a well-known fact that the^A\h\eYro^, Rana esculenta, L.', 

 presents a greater amount of variation, both as regards structure and 

 colour, than perhaps f>ny other species of Batrachians. Any herpeto- 

 logist having before him the Japanese and Spanish Frogs, without 



^ I wish to remark ou this occasiou that the current notion that the flesh of 

 this Frog is more valued than that of its European congeners is entirely 

 erroneous. The Frogs sold in the markets of Paris, Brussels, and Geneva are 

 almost iuvariablv Pa>ia fcmjioraria. which are commoner and more easily 

 caught. 



