THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 139 



I continued to feed him for about a quarter of an hour. 

 Taking a turn in the garden the next day, about the same 

 hour, I saw the old fellow sitting in the same corner as 

 before. The two following days he returned to the same 

 place, but the supply of gooseberry-grubs was exhausted ; 

 and, as the supply failed, the toad absented himself, and was 

 seen no more." The only birds known to eat the gooseberry- 

 grub are the cuckoo and the redstart: the former is ruthlessly 

 persecuted as a "vermin;" the latter as a consumer of 

 summer fruit. But to return to the toad. It has a propensity 

 rarely observed, but very decidedly developed, for a kind of 

 insect-food that one would have thought rather too pungent 

 for his palate ; but a fact was related to me, and published 

 as long ago as 1853 in the " Proceedings of the Entomological 

 Society," which places the matter beyond the possibility of 

 doubt. It was stated thus : — " A stock of bees was observed 

 to grow weaker day by day, until at last it became so 

 pauperised that the hive was removed, and the bees turned 

 adrift to shift for themselves ; nothing was amiss with the 

 interior of the hive. A second stock shortly afterwards 

 exhibited similar symptoms of depopulation, and a suspicion 

 was then entertained that some nocturnal depredator entered 

 the hive at night and devoured the bees. About two hours 

 after dark the hive was visited, with a view to an inspection 

 of the interior, but on arriving at the spot with a lantern the 

 owner found a large toad squatted on the alighting-board, and 

 looking about him with bright and animated eyes. Presently 

 a night-roving bee returned home : there was a sudden move- 

 ment on the part of the toad, and the bee vanished. A long 

 interval of patient watching ensued, when a second bee came 

 home: a second movement of the toad followed, and the bee 

 again vanished; but the light of the lantern was this time 

 thrown full on him, and he was distinctly seen to swallow. 

 The toad was caught and killed, and eight still-living bees 

 were taken from the stomach." — Edward Newman.^ 



Localities and Collectors. — That unworked localities, when 

 brought under the vigilant inspection of the entomologist, 

 often produce the greatest number of rarities, is an undeniable 

 fact; consequently, when we have a few hours to spare, we 

 would fain rush off to some locality which we well know has 

 been the scene of some grand " take," whilst we leave our 



