446 



STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



These facts show that the thousands of frogs which inhabit oar marshes and 

 meadows are of immense value in checking the increase of noxious insects, 

 especially of those which, like the cutworms and grasshoppers, feed upon grass 

 and similar crops. Who can foretell the result if in the case of the grass- 

 hoppers alone the great and constant pressure which is thus brought to bear 

 upon them were removed? Dr. Beal suggests that the absence of marshes and 

 ponds, and consequent scarcity of frogs in the west, may be one of the reasons 

 why grasshoppers are there so numerous. 



RANA CLAMITANS.— Greeu F^i-og. 



ECONOMIC RELATIONS. 



The coccinellid beetle found in the third specimen was the only instance in 

 which I have found a member of this useful family of beetles in an 

 animal's stomach. It is a noteworthy fact, however, that the specimen 

 belonged to a species (Megilla maculata) which last year did much damage to 

 corn in some portions of the country. 



These results show that the food of this species does not differ essentially 

 from that of the E. halecina, and that what was said of the latter is almost 

 equally true of this. 



III. The Food of Toads. 



Few animals have been blessed with greater notice in the volumes of super- 

 stitious lore than the wart toad. From time immemorial it has been associated 

 the mind with witchcraft, sorcery, and superstition. Over and over again 

 ve the virtues of the jewel in its head been sung. Possibly that jewel may 

 ve been its appetite for noxious insects. 



