138 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



standing by the side of a ditch in the fens, which leans in, 

 three feet and a half from the ground, two inches out of the 

 perpendicular. There is a small, hollow place in the stem, 

 one inch deep and two inches wide, and growing wider all 

 the way from the ground until it is lost. On this tree, three 

 feet and a half from the ground, I sugar for moths, and on 

 several nights a large toad has ascended the tree to the 

 sugar: it always sits quietly on the trunk, but I never find it 

 on any other tree, although there are several in the neigh- 

 bourhood, all of them ash. I believe the object is to take the 

 moths as they come to the sugar. I have called the men at 

 the railway bridge, which crosses the river near the spot, and 

 one of these men the other night took it down, but it was 

 there again in half an hour. 1 never find any moths on the 

 tree if the toad is there. — William JVintery I have long 

 been familiar with the habit of moths to fall off the sugar in a 

 fit of intoxication : my friend Mr. Doubleday has often spoken 

 to me of having observed toads waiting for moths under his 

 own sugarings at Epping. I am surprised Mr. Corbin has not 

 two other sweet-toothed visitors to the sugar, — the longtailed 

 field-mouse and a common ground-beetle, an insect, as I said 

 before, much addicted to a "diet of worms :" one can scarcely 

 imagine any similarity between the taste of worms and 

 centipedes and that of rum and treacle. Entomologists 

 always speak of the field-mouse as the "dor-mouse" — I think 

 an evident error. Perhaps I may mention, in connection 

 with this subject, two other kinds of insect-food for which the 

 toad has a decided leaning: in the first instance this weak- 

 ness may be called beneficial to man; in the second, 

 prejudicial. The first is the gooseberry-grub (Nematus 

 ventricosus) ; the second the honey-bee (Apis mellifica). 

 The penchant of the toad for the gooseberry-grub was first 

 noticed by Mr. Leadbitter, of Gray's Inn, who often observed 

 the abundance of the grub on some currant-trees nailed 

 against a garden-wall at Dorking. Mr. Leadbitter proceeds 

 thus : — " Perceiving at the same time a toad, sitting quietly in 

 a corner at no great distance, it occurred to me to try if he 

 would eat them. Accordingly, having collected a large 

 quantity of grubs, I presented him with one at the end of a 

 short stick, and was much pleased to see him put out his 

 long tongue, draw the caterpillar in, and devour it greedily. 



I 



