TOADS. 335 
throwing them a red-hot cinder, remarking that they might 
mistake it for a firefly. What was our surprise on seeing a 
Toad jump towards it, snap it up, and swallow it. We repeated 
the experiment, to see in every instance the cinder instantly 
swallowed. The Toads did not eject the cinders. On the con- 
trary, they apparently liked them, as one ostrich-stomached and 
bloated individual took five or six consecutively. This new 
method of Toad-feeding soon became a regular evening diver- 
sion, and we never had a friend to dine without going through 
the performance for his benefit. I may mention that a man 
who was in the habit of imbibing large quantities of cana, or 
aguardiente de uvas (the native spirits), is nicknamed in many 
cases by his comrades garganta de swpo (toad-throat).” 
The Toad’s power of eating is nearly as remarkable as its 
powers of fasting. A large Toad of my own has swallowed, 
one after the other, a dozen full-grown cockroaches. <A Toad will 
seize a lob-worm by the middle of its body and gradually force the 
two struggling ends into its mouth by the help of its hands. 
Frequently this feat is not accomplished without considerable 
exertion on the part of the Toad. Not seldom one portion of 
the worm wriggles out of the Batrachian’s mouth, while the 
other portion is being pushed in. And if this in-and-out 
business be continued for any length of time, the Toad pro- 
bably comes as near to losing its temper as it is possible for 
an animal of such a placid disposition to arrive at. 
Toads are frequently regarded by entomologists as_beetle- 
traps, and are robbed in the morning of their prey which they 
have captured during the night before. In this way many rare 
insects have been obtained. 
The water to which Toads, while in confinement, have access 
should be changed regularly. The reason for this will soon 
become apparent to those who begin to keep these creatures. 
The Toad, while watching some animal which it expects to 
capture, sometimes exhibits a curious nervous twitching of its 
toes, and as it swallows the victim its eyes seem to sink fora 
moinent into its head. 
When the time arrives for a Toad to shed its cuticle, it draws 
it off, somewhat in the same way as a football-player removes his 
