780 General Notes. | December, 
the backward pull, the firmer and the more extensive the attach- 
ment to the sharp barbs; the wounded and impaled organ be- 
comes congested and swollen, and the insect is seldom able to 
disengage it. Especially is this the case with the larger flies. 
Some perish by exhaustion, but more of them, passing round 
and round in a circle and in one and the same direction, come to 
an end by twisting off their heads!” Trimen’s Yournal of 
Botany for October, gives us a note on borage, by H. F. Hance, 
of interest to American botanists. Prof. P. von Tieghem has 
succeeded Brongniart as Professor of Botany at the Museum at 
Paris——In Caruel’s Mew Italian Botanical Journal, is an article 
on the morphology and biology of freshwater algz allied to Nos- 
toc, etc., by A. Borzi. 
ZOOLOGY.! 
NOTES ON SOME REPTILES AND BATRACHIA OF THE PACIFIC 
Coast.—The large frog (Rana temporaria var. aurora), sometimes 
called “ bull-frog,” of this coast is eaten in considerable quantity 
in San Francisco. Its consumption is not confined to French- 
men, at whom some rude people are apt to scoff as “ frog-eaters,” 
but extends to some individuals of the beef-eating nation, as well 
as to Americans and those of other nationalities. 
The real bull-frog is much larger than our species, yet a large 
specimen of the latter reaches the very respectable length of five 
and a-half inches from the nose to where the tail of his tadpole 
days commenced. Such large frogs are by no means cheap deli- 
cacies, since they are retailed at four dollars per dozen. The 
smallest I have yet seen in the market were worth one dollar and 
- seventy-five cents per dozen. And there is reason for the high 
rice. 
r Ponds and brooks margined or partly overgrown with water- 
weeds, such as frogs love, are scarce in the vicinity of San Fran- 
cisco, and most of those which occur have been to a great extent 
depopulated of their croaking inhabitants long ago. : 
Those brought to market are caught in Marin county, in brooks 
and boggy places beyond San Rafael ; in San Mateo county ; even 
as far away as. Visalia, which, from its position in what is known 
as the “ Four Creek Country,” would seem to be especially fitted 
for their production. : 
Two or three Frenchmen are the only people who systemati- 
cally make it their business to catch these batrachian delicacies; 
and when we consider the long and toilsome journeys across 
rough country that these men have to perform, we cease to won- 
der that they are not cheap. ‘ 
Chelopus marmoratus Baird and Girard, Out of about thirty- 
eight species of fresh-water turtles or terrapins found in the United | 
ihe dep ts of Orni {ammalogy are conducted by Dr. ELLIOTT 
sales AL i Vag athe od and Mammalogy are con y : 
