In his first editorial in Pelobates No 50, Martin Hatton wrote, "it is over a decade and a half since this magazine last had a change of editor". He retained the position for three years before retiring. Last year, Linda Wickham was editor. Now it is my turn. Somehow I can't help feeling that maybe things do not forbode well!

However, I do have a good supply of articles which have been passed on to me. Unfortunately, many of them are somewhat dated - apart from the "expedition special" issue there has not been a copy of Pelobates since June 1989 - but I make no apologies for this fact. I believe they need to be published (better late than never) and if they are no longer entirely correct, perhaps they will generate further articles for future editions of Pelobates.

On the subject of material, although I have enough for the next edition, I am going to need more articles soon if I am to continue producing the magazine at the rate I hope to. To quote Martin again, "with regard to frequency, I can do no better than repeat the last sentance of Paul (Selby)'s first editorial paragraph in issue 12: Pelobates will in future appear on specific dates... April, July, October, December". That was in April 1987. Admittedly the next edition did appear in July 1987, but we had to wait until January 1988 for the following one! Nevertheless 4 editions per year does seem like a reasonable target, and I will try to meet this provided the material keeps coming in.