168 



It was interestlug to see the way she made a hollow, or buried her- 

 self. She always used the same method, pushing the dirt to each side 

 with her hind legs and shoving herself backward with her fore legs. 



She was accurate in predicting changes in temperature, appearing very 

 hungry, and after eating, burying herself completely before a decided fall 

 in temperature. Before rising temperature she seemed less concerned 

 about getting her food and would not cover lierself completely, usually 

 leaving her head out as though waiting for insects. 



Plenty of grasshoppers and flies were kept in the aquarium, and she 

 ate freely each day till November 1st. when a cold wave arrived and the 

 room cooled off during the night. This time she buried herself com- 

 pletely. Neither did she again appear nor show signs of life till Novem- 

 ber 29th, when she sloAvly emerged. This may be spoken of as a short 

 period of hibernation. 



She was in and out almost every day after this, and on December 7th 

 she ate three flies and 2.8 g. beefsteak. In regard to their eating, toads 

 show the same peculiarity that frogs do, in that they will not attempt 

 to take anything that is not in motion. In order to get the toad to eat 

 meat I threaded a small piece on a string and twirled it before her. Her 

 attention would first be attracted by the moving object, and after gazing 

 at it for a few seconds she would quickly run out her tongue and take it. 

 The whole process is almost instantaneous, and one can see but a flash 

 of light red and hear the shutting of her mouth. 



After eating this amount she refused to take any more, and buried 

 herself, as I supposed, for another hibernation. But the next day she was 

 out again and ate a fly. On the day following she ate 12 flies and 3 g. of 

 meat. I continued feeding her every few days and, when hungry, she 

 would eat frozen or stale meat and thrust her tongue at any near moving 

 object. With the exception of cold "snaps," when she would remain cov- 

 ered up two or three days at a time, she showed no further signs of hiber- 

 nation throughout the winter. 



On February 14th she weighed 88.9 g. This shows that though there 

 was a tendency to hibernate at first, it did not manifest itself again, for 

 an animal loses weight during hibernation. February 20th she weighed 

 97 g., showing a gain of 8.5 g. in six days. This rapid increase in weight 

 was probably due to the nutritive diet of beef and to the rapid secretion 

 of eggs. 



