76 
The Naturalist tn La Plata, 
our common Rana, though like it in colour, and I 
at once dropped on to mj knees and set about its 
capture. Though it watched me attentively, the 
frog remained perfectly motionless, and this greatly 
surprised me. Before I was sufficiently near to 
make a grab, it sprang straight at my hand, and, 
catching two of my fingers round with its fore legs, 
administered a hug so sudden and violent as to 
cause an acute sensation of pain ; then, at the very 
instant I experienced this feeling, which made me 
start back quickly, it released its hold and bounded 
out and away. I flew after it, and barely managed 
to overtake it before it could gain the water. 
Holding it firmly pressed behind the shoulders, it 
was powerless to attack me, and I then noticed the 
enormous development of the muscles of the fore 
legs, usually small in frogs, bulging out in this 
individual, like a second pair of thighs, and giving 
it a strangely bold and formidable appearance. On 
holding my gun within its reach, it clasped the 
barrel with such energy as to bruise the skin of its 
breast and legs. After allowing it to partially 
exhaust itself in these fruitless huggings, I experi- 
mented by letting it seize my hand again, and I 
noticed that invariably after each squeeze it made a 
quick, violent attempt to free itself. Believing that 
I had discovered a frog differing in structure from 
all known species, and possessing a strange unique 
instinct of self-preservation, I carried my captive 
home, intending to show it to Dr. Burmeister, the 
director of the N'ational Museum at Buenos Ayres. 
Unfortunately, after I had kept it some days, it 
effected its escape by pushing up the glass cover of 
