THE FROG. 
65 
to have procured frog’s spawn from England and placed it in a ditch in the 
University Park, whence the species gradually spread over the entire 
country. The circumstance is noticed in the Dublin Med. and Chem. 
Jour. vol. v. N. 15, p. 481, as quoted in Edinb. Phil. Jour. vol. xviii. p. 372, 
also in Bell’s History of British Reptiles, p. 86, where will be found an ex- 
tract from the writings of Swift in which the introduction of these animals 
is referred to. The year 1696 is mentioned by the latter authorities as 
that in which Dr. Guithers made the importation. 
In Stuart’s History of Armagh the following passage occurs, — 
“The first frog which was ever seen in this country made its appearance in a 
pasture -field near Waterford about the year 1630, and is noticed by Colgan in a 
work printed in 1647 [Tria. Thom. p. 256].” — Stuart’ s Armagh, p. 504. 
Dubourdieu, in his History of Down, published in 1802, remarks, — 
“ I was assured by an old gentleman of the greatest veracity, who died some 
years ago above the age of eighty, that the first frogs he ever saw were in a well 
near Moira, from whence he brought some of them to Waringstowm, where, until 
that time, they had never been seen ; the quickness with which they multiplied, 
and the rapidity wdth which they spread, were surprising.” P. 316. 
The following note, which has been supplied to me by a friend, has re- 
ference to the County of Antrim. 
“ My grandmother, who I find was born 8th January, 1726, used to tell 
me, that when a girl at school she was taken some distance to see a frog 
which was exhibited as a show. Her father lived at Ballycorr in this 
county, so this applies to the North of Ireland.” 
When at Florence Court, in October, 1840, Lord Enniskillen told me 
that frogs brought from the top of a neighbouring hill thirteen hundred 
feet high had been seen by an eminent Professor when there* who was 
disposed to believe them distinct from the common species. Lord E. had 
some brought for me from the locality, and on comparing these with 
specimens taken in the demesne, and subsequently with others, I could not 
perceive any material difference. 
A frog taken in Ayrshire and compared with the Florence Court 
specimens (high and low ground) does not to my mind exhibit specific 
differences : its colour certainly is different from that of others, it being 
more spotted ; but frogs differ greatly in this respect. It possesses the 
“ elongated patch of brown or brownish black behind the eyes,” which 
Jenyns and Bell consider the most constant mark exhibited in the com- 
mon frog. — Bell, p. 100. 
Aug. 12, 1845. — In two pools in quarries about Sandy Braes, County 
Antrim, I saw numbers of tadpoles of true form, and some others exhibit- 
ing the mere rudiments of the 2nd pair or “ hind legs : ” others that had 
just put off the tadpole and were veritable frogs were seen on the dry 
margin of the pools, but not one in the water. Baron Watershausen was 
with me. 
On 11th October, 1839, I heard frogs croaking at Fortwilliam, near 
Belfast. I was within a short distance of them and saw them. 
Feb. 17, 1850. — Although the winter has been very severe, and the 
weather of late, and to-day, cold and inclement, I never saw a greater 
number of frogs together than there were in and about a stagnant pool on 
the north side of the old Malone road, near to Lismoyne entrance gate. 
They had cast a profusion of spawn, and appeared with their heads and 
white throats above the surface of the water. The multitudinous croak- 
ing of several hundreds of them at the same time had a singular and, 
F 
