USEFULNESS OF THE AMERICAN TOAD. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The heavy tax levied by insects on nearly all agricultural crops is 

 well known to farmers. Nearly as well known, thanks to Experiment 

 Station experts and others, are the principal remedies for combating 

 these pests. But in the long run nature provides the most eflScient 

 checks on insect increase and these often are but little understood or 

 appreciated. While the value of birds as destroyers of noxious 

 insects is now becoming generally recognized, the silent, inconspicuous 

 work of insect parasites and certain predaceous animals receives but 

 slight recognition even from those who are most directly benefited. 

 Thus the common toad,'* nocturnal, of quiet habit and appearance, 

 renders notable service to farmers and gardeners throughout the entire 

 growing season; yet to many its worth is unknown, while to others it 

 is even an object of disgust, if not of fear. It must be admitted that 

 to some the toad can never be an attractive animal. Nature has denied 

 it the gay colors of bird life or even the sinuous beauty of some of its 

 reptilian relatives. Yet, judged by the standard of good works, the 

 toad does not suffer by comparison with any of the lower animals. 



The toad has always borne the burden of false and even ludicrous 

 misrepresentations. We have adopted in their entirety the principal 

 European traditions concerning the toad as set forth by the early 

 writers on natural history. These ancient savants, who did so much 

 to establish the study of nature, had the failing, not confined to that 

 age, of confounding fancy with fact. Thus the popular superstitions 

 of that time are curiously interwoven with their statements concerning 

 the life history and habits of the toad. The early writings on this 

 subject teem with vague and ludicrous fancies of the toad's ven- 

 omous qualities, its medicinal virtues, and more commonlj^ of the val- 

 uable toadstone or jewel to be found in its head. All these tradi- 

 tions are to be met with even in this era of progress, and coupled with 

 them we hear of the equally surprising ability of the toad to produce 



« The information given in this bulletin relates chiefly to our common eastern toad 

 (Bufo lentiginosus arnericanus Le C). Other species have similar habits where the 

 samec lasses of insects are available for food. — Editor. 



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