after all, how like our human life it is. Where sympathy is, cruelly is 

 impossible, and one comes to feel the spirit of these beautiful lines 

 from Coleridge's "Ancient Mariner: " 



*' He prayeth best who loveth best 



All things both great and small ; 



For the dear God who loveth us 



He made and loveth all. " . 



t 

 \ 



It was William Harvey, the discoverer of the circulation of the 

 blood, who first clearly stated to the world the fact that every animal 

 comes from an egg. This is as true of the toad as of the chicken. 

 The toad lives on the land and often a long way from any pond or 

 stream, but the first part of its life is spent in the water; and so it is 

 in the water that the eggs must be looked for. 



To find the eggs one should visit the natural or artificial ponds so 

 common along streams. Ponds from springs or even artificial reser- 

 voirs or the basins around fountains may also contain the eggs. The 

 ikne for finding the eggs depends on the season. The toad observes 

 the season, not the almanac. In ordinary years the best time is from 

 the middle of April to the first of May. One is often guided to the 

 right place by noticing the direction from which the song or call of 

 the toad comes. It may be said in passing that toad choirs are com- 

 posed solely of male voices. The call is more or less like that of tree 

 toads. In general it sounds like whisthng, and at the same time 

 pronouncing deep in the throat bu-rr-r-r-r-. If one watches a toad 

 while it makes its call, he can soon learn to distinguish the sound 

 from others somewhat similar. It will be found that different toads 

 have slightly different voices, and the same one can vary the tone * 

 considerably, so that it is not so easy after all to distinguish the many 

 batrachian solos and choruses on a spring or summer evening. It will 

 be noticed that the toad does not open its mouth when it sings, but 

 there is a great, expansible, vocal sack or resonator under the mouth 

 and throat (see the left hand toad in the plate). 



The eggs are laid in long strings or ropes which are nearly always 

 tangled and wound round the water plants or sticks on the bottom of 

 the pond near the shore. If the eggs have been freshly laid or if 

 there has been no rain to stir up the mud and the water is clear, the 



