FROGS THAT WHISTLE

Greymouth Evening Star, 22 December 1934, Page 2

FROGS THAT WHISTLE

DISCOVERIES IN AFRICA. LONDON. December 2. Frogs with hair, claws and eyebrows: frogs that whistled when dug out of holes, or ticked like clocks; frogs marked with black spots, which turned silver, and stripes which vanished when breathed on. These were among the discoveries of the zoological expedition to the British Cameroons, related to the Geological Society by Mr Ivan Sanderson. Other discoveries were telegraph poles, which grew so rapidly that thewires were carried out of reach. The expedition’s menus included white ants fried on toast, curried monitor lizards and grotesque horseheaded bats with greenish eyes and cowlike ears. Mr Sanderson told about receiving a delegation of chiefs and retainers seeking an explanation of the financial crisis affecting them because they received only 6d a can for delicacies instead of 12/- as formerly. Mr Sanderson attempted to explain the results of the war to dispel the belief that the whites manufactured money to meet individual needs, but his arguments were so soporific to the elder chiefs that he turned on jazz records from the gramophone. A.s the delegation had not seen a machine previously, the debate ended. in his triumph, although the oldest chief condemned the wickedness of keeping men imprisoned in a little box in order to sing and play.