67 Gb 
may claim descent from the old British Wild Cat. That it should 
be a reversion from the domestic breed to the wild type is scarcely 
probable, unless we are prepared to allow for a strong admixture 
of original blood coming from pure ancestors, which at no distant 
period inhabited the district. Bullington Wood is remarkable as 
being the last haunt of the Ivite in Lincolnshire : a pair nested 
there in 1870. The Pine Marten still lingers in the district, 
examples being obtained almost every year ; and the Polecat is 
extremely common.” 
My second note has reference to the Edible Frog {Rana esculenta), 
which was by some considered, if not indigenous to the Fens of 
Cambridgeshire, certainly a very old inhabitant of that district. 
On the draining of the Fens it was thought to have migrated into 
Norfolk ) still from the undoubted fact of a large number of 
these animals having been introduced into this county at various 
times about the year 1837, by Mr. George Berney, the weight of 
evidence seemed largely in favour of those found in Norfolk having 
descended from Mr. Berney’s importations. 
Eecently, however, Mr. G. A. Boulenger* has examined a number 
both of old Cambridgeshire and recent Norfolk specimens, and to his 
great surprise finds that they all belong to a very distinct race peculiar 
to Italy, and not to the typical form which occurs in Central Europe. 
Mr. Boulenger concludes thus : “ It is clear to me, therefore, that 
all the specimens, the capture of which has hitherto been recorded, 
whether from Cambridgeshire or Norfolk, are not the descendants 
of those introduced by Mr. Berney, but are of Italian origin. By 
whom, and when, they were introduced in this country I cannot 
venture to suggest.”! The suggestion that these creatures may 
have been introduced from Italy, like Helix pomatia, by “Eoman 
monks,” thus seems to be rendered much more probable ; but it still 
may be possible that Mr. Berney accidentally imported Italian 
Frogs from Belgium and the north of France; and it will bo 
interesting to examine a larger number of specimens, with a view 
to ascertaining whether Mr. Berney’s French Frogs still survive in 
any part of Norfolk. — T. S. 
* ‘ Zoologist,’ 1SS4, p. 265. 
t 1. c. p. 269. 
