6538 



Reptiles. 



cavity, about the size of the crown of a man's hat. On being exposed to the air they 

 uttered a squeaking cry, resembling that of a rat, hut in about a minute they seemed 

 reconciled to their new destiny, and moved freely about. They were kept in a jar for 

 a few days, and then placed at liberty in a garden, where I suppose they are still living. 

 The living ones were about two inches in length, but narrow in proportion, and of a 

 rather lighter colour than toads usually are ; the one which was killed was very much 

 larger. The clay under which they were buried had been gradually dug out from the 

 surface, since about the beginning of the year, but the last five feet of depth was not 

 dug till the day on which they were discovered. After about two feet of the surface, 

 the clay is very close and adhesive, and far too moist to admit of cracks being formed 

 in it, even in the dryest summers. — Thomas Clark ; Halesleigh, March 25, 1859. 



[Will my correspondent give the name of any scientific man who was present at 

 this exhumation ? I am confident he is too careful a naturalist to accept such a state- 

 ment except on the highest and most unequivocal testimony ; and I look forward with 

 great interest to a correspondence with the actual discoverer. — Edward Newman"]. 



Naturalization of the Edible Frog (Rana esculenta, L.) in England. 

 By Alfred Newton, M.A., F.L.S. 



On the 8th of June, 1853, as my brother Edward and myself were 

 driving along the road between Thetford and Seoul ton, in the county 

 of Norfolk, we heard a most singular noise, and one we were unable 

 to attribute to any cause known to us, proceeding from an adjacent 

 field. We stopped, and he, getting out, entered the field, — a small 

 meadow, — presently returning to me with the information that the 

 extraordinary sounds came from a pond, hitherto hidden by the hedge, 

 and that the utterers of them were no other than the edible frogs. Of 

 course I went immediately to satisfy myself, and there, sure enough, 

 were the frogs, — some swimming to-and-fro in the water, — some sitting 

 on the aquatic plants, with which the pond was choked, and these last 

 w r ere exceedingly noisy, puffing out their faucial sacs, like so many 

 dwellers in the cave of ^Eolus. After observing them for a little while, 

 we tried to obtain some specimens, but herein fortune favoured the 

 frogs : we had no aggressive weapons beyond a walking-stick and an 

 umbrella, and they were wary to a degree and exceedingly active. 

 However by persevering we became possessed of four individuals, 

 three, I regret to say, dead, and one, an indiscreet youth whom we 

 found rambling about the grass, alive. By the time these were obtained 

 our offensive operations had so be-muddicd the pool and disturbed 

 the growth of the water- weeds, that the rest of the colony sought safety 

 in its turbid depths, and we could discover no more. We therefore 



