Ɛpsilon

From Arthur Russell   15 April 1872

10, South Audley Street. W.

April 15 | 1872

Dear Mr. Darwin

Some years ago I imported from France a lot of Ranæ esculentæ and put them into a pond at Woburn Abbey, where they have done very well & increased in numbers, and where their croaking charms me every summer.1 I observed that some of the females were compelled to submit in the spring to the rude embraces of common English toads2 & I expected that the discovery of a new species of batrachian in Bedfordshire would be announced some day. Being at Woburn during the Easter holidays I observed a French frog who had copulated with a female toad— I took them home & kept them till the toad had spawned. I brought the spawn with me but though it has not yet decayed it does not seem to develop. I want to ask you whether you know of any experiments in crossing frogs & toads or R. esculenta with R. temporaria, our common frog? I think I remember reading that Spallanzani tried these experiments long ago without success.3

Excuse the liberty I have taken and believe me | yrs. sincerely | Arthur Russell

CD annotations

Top of letter: ‘Hybrids’ pencil
1
Rana esculenta, the edible frog, was thought to be a hybrid of Pelophylax ridibundus (the Eurasian marsh frog) and P. lessonae (the pool frog), but is now considered to be synonymous with the latter. For more on Russell’s interest in natural history at the family seat at Woburn Abbey in Bedfordshire, see Correspondence vol. 17, Appendix V.
2
The common toad is Bufo bufo.
3
For more on Lazzaro Spallanzani’s unsuccessful attempts in hybridising frogs and toads, see Capanna 1999, pp. 191–2.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-8286,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-8286