42 THE SENSES OF ANIMALS 



adversely on their seeing powers, it merely means that they 

 must always — even in nature — have a chance of "getting 

 used to more light". Not only toads are affected in this way; 

 human beings under reversed light conditions have to do the 

 same : if we go from a well-lighted room into the darkness we 

 cannot see at all ; but if we wait a few moments, we find that 

 we can often see dimly the objects around us which we should 

 have bumped into had we attempted to move about without 

 this precaution. Another example is provided by a cricketer 

 who has been awaiting his turn to go in to bat and who has 

 been sitting in a dark pavilion. A wicket falls, and out into 

 the sunlight he has to go, perhaps to face a fast bowler. 

 Many a cheap wicket has been gained because the next man 

 in has omitted to seat himself in good light while waiting. 

 He just cannot adjust his eyes to a sudden increase of light. 

 The great Don Bradman never made such mistakes; this 

 may have accounted for the rapidity with which he was often 

 in full cry after runs — even in the first overs he received ! 



To return to our experiments : the best way of ensuring 

 plenty of opportunities for observation is to have a friend, 

 who is a moth collector, as an assistant. Such persons often 

 use a strong lamp and a white sheet on the ground in order 

 to bring to them moths which are drawn to the illumination. 

 Such conditions are ideal for watching the manner, speed, 

 and accuracy with which a toad will deal with the moths, 

 beetles, craneflies and so on which flutter about or pitch on 

 to the sheet. I have many times seen a toad from a garden 

 come slowly from its hiding-place and hop ponderously to 

 the sheet. There it will wait for a time while it gets used to 

 the brilliance, after which it will set about feeding in earnest. 

 Of course, you will not always be lucky in having a hungry 

 toad conveniently visiting you; but a "pet" toad — whether 

 British or foreign — can be introduced for the purpose. 

 Foreign toads will not lose their body heat so quickly as to 

 inhibit feeding behaviour so long as the night in question is 

 not too cold; and as cold nights are not conducive to 

 "mothing" with a lamp and sheet you need not worry much 

 about this problem. 



There is, however, one risk in conducting this experiment 

 which, though it has its amusing side, will not endear you to 



