_ c; _ 



portion nust have been s'.vallovkod by accident and can not properly bo classed 

 as food. Inorganic material fo\and in the stomachs averages about 2 percent 

 of the total and consists mainly of sand, gravel, or small pebbles, and in a 

 few instaxices of coal and ashes. 



Earthworms, sowbugs, snails, spiders, millipeds, and insects are the 

 main types represented in tiio animal food. Earthworms were found in only 

 six stomachs and represent loss than 1 percent of the total food, while 

 inseuts were found in practically every stomach and comprise nearly 77 per- 

 cent. 



Small forms of Crustacea, known locally as sowbugs, forms which prove 

 nuisances in greenhouses b2cai.;se of their Ixibit of feedi^^- on the roots of 

 flowering plants, as pansics, violets, and the like, comprise less than 1 

 percent . Snails compose a little more than 1 percent of the total food 

 for the season. 



Long-legged, spiderlike animals, which from their prevalence during 

 the haying season have been called harvestmen and are Icnovm also as daddy- 

 longlegs, were identified in Uf; stomachs and constitute n. arly 1 percent 

 of the Season's food of the toad. Spiders are eaten throu5hout the season, 

 but, v/hixe nearly 600 of them v-erv foimd in the 500 stomachs examined, they 

 coListitvite only 2.S percent of the total food. Millipeds v;;,rc- present in 

 about one of every five stomachs exa.mined, the largest numb>.r found in a 

 single stomach being 70. 



Beetles (Coleoptera) ar^.. taJrcn throughout the season and form more 

 them U2 percent of the total r eod. These represent 56 famili.s, but the 

 gro-u::d beetles, scarabacids, vv^evils, darkling beetles, click beetles , and 

 rove beetles, in the order nraned, are most comirionly eaten. The Carabidae, 

 or ground beetles, constitut*^ the largest clement of the food furnished by 

 the Coleoptera, approximately IS percent of the toad's f 5od b^ing from 

 this seurco. In point of nuraC_rG tai'en, most of the carabida ar..; those 

 knr.vn to be plant-feeding beetles. The dmig beetles and le'tf-chaf .rs, or 

 scar::,baeids, form the secoiid largest item xmder the C.jleopt^ra, as they con- 

 tribute 7 percent of the total food. In 215 of the 502 stomachs examined 

 573 weevils, representing 93 forms, were present. Click beetles constitute 

 2 corccnt of the season's fooo. . «hilo rove beetles (Stapli^j'linidac) are 

 rather frequently eaten, they are usually of snail size, and in consequence 

 form little mor^ than 1 eevcent of the total food, llaiv oth.;r f.Minili>.-s of 

 beetlvs were taken by toads i.. varying ijroportions and of those the leaf 

 beatleo, longliornod beetles, ladybird beetles, and fir.;flies are the most 

 important. It ma;j,' be stater! bi.at in general toads will eat any beetle that 

 ha.j ens to come within r>aci:. a.^d that the relative jjerccntagcs of the 

 various farailies of beetles foimd in the course of the staiiach exaiainations 

 agree very closely v;ith the abundance in individuals of thos- families 

 v/nich live on or n^ar the ground. 



In all uonths ^xcept Hay, rjats formed the larg.u-jt ei.:glo iter: in the 

 toad's food. The relative iT.. ortions of nnts to other Hyiecnoptera, in- 

 cludi).^ ichneumons, in thj fa .d. also show how closely the terrc^-jtrial 



