Page:The Zoologist, 3rd series, vol 1 (1877).djvu/87

Rh  (Rana esculenta) —In 1859 I announced in 'The Zoologist' (1st ser. 6538–6540) the discovery in 1853, by my brother Mr. Edward Newton and myself, of a colony of Edible Frogs in Norfolk, and at the same time I was satisfactorily able to account for its existence. The colony was afterwards sought for by Mr. Southwell, but in vain; and nothing had been heard for many years of the colonists or their descendants. It was therefore with great pleasure that on the 30th of May last, when I happened to arrive at a small station on the Thetford and Watton Railway, my ears were greeted by some well-remembered notes, which I found to proceed from a little pond only a few yards off, and I soon gained a sight of some of the performers. I was fortunate in being in Lord Walsingham's company at the time, and he, entering at once into the interest of the matter, contrived after many unsuccessful attempts to bring to land a single example of the species, which is now in the Norwich Museum. On enquiring of a man who came from a house close by, he said that he had known these noisy Frogs so long as he had lived there—more than a dozen years, and by his means other examples were soon after sent to Mr. Southwell at Norwich. On reference to my former note, it will be seen that this species has thus made good its existence in Norfolk for at least thirty-four years, and I cannot doubt that the last colony I found is one of the results of Mr. Berney's original importations, as that gentleman has informed me that he has not introduced any more in the meanwhile, and I know of no one else who is likely to have done so. From Lord Walsingham I have since learnt that he has ascertained that the species is pretty generally diffused in a south-westerly direction from the place where we found it, and therefore its naturalization in the county seems to be accomplished.— (Magdalene College, Cambridge).

 

December 21, 1876.—Prof. President, in the chair.

Mr. Thomas Christy (64, Claverton Street, S.W.) and Mr. Robert Drane (Queen Street, Cardiff) were balloted for and duly elected Fellows of the Society.

The Butterflies of Malacca formed the subject of a paper by Mr. A.G. Butler, of the British Museum. A number of new species were described, and a tabular view of the geographical relations given. The author states that of 258 species now registered from Malacca, 36 are endemic; of the remainder 65 also belong to Assam or Nepal, 38 to Moulmein, 33 to Ceylon, 94 to Penang, 46 to Singapore, 112 to Borneo, 41 to 