14 PALMER : 



poles, which meantime grew wath amazing rapidity, and this 

 in the absence of other visible food. * 



The tadpoles so brought forth are essentially fish-like in 

 habit. They have small, round mouths and external gills. 

 They are without proper lungs. Their bodies are soft, and 

 they are the helpless prey of a variety of water dwellers. The 

 crayfish especially — that small but fierce member of the pug- 

 nacious race of crabs and lobsters — destroys many of them, 

 and eats a few. Destruction seems to be the main object. 

 Let me relate a little circumstance in illustration. 



I had been wading up a little meadow stream one evening, 

 collecting with a hand net a quantity of minnows for next 

 day's bass fishing. From among the minty growths dipping 

 into the water on either bank there came up, and into the 

 bucket, numbers of large tadpoles and a few crayfish. These 

 all were in along with the minnows, and the bucket stood out 

 until next morning. Then a horrible sight awaited me. The 

 crayfish, not more than eight or ten in all, had worked havoc. 

 All the tadpoles and half the minnows were dead of brutal 

 stabs. The ruffians had killed, as it were for mere love of 

 killing, over one hundred defenseless fellow prisoners. Not 

 satisfied with this, they had turned upon each other, and only 

 two crayfish retained all their legs and pincers. 



Cast amid such wretches as these, the tadpoles must have 

 a sorry time of it. But other enemies abound. The water 

 snake, cunning and agile, engulfs them in large numbers. 

 Various fishes eat their share. Of millions that hatch, only 

 hundreds get themselves legs at last, so harried are they night 

 and day. And with the legs comes little succor from trouble. 

 Wading birds, with long necks and dagger-like beaks, stab 

 the frogs upon the bottom of the pool, and serpents with 

 yellow stripes waylay them in the grass upon the bank. On 

 all sides, and forever, destruction waits and threatens. 



The tadpole is apparently constructed for a vegetable diet. 



* Observation on the spawn ol water newt, 1905. 



