13 



To the credit of the toad we must place the destruction of a remark- 

 a,h\j large number of particular!}^ injurious insects, such as cutworms, 

 army worms, caterpillars, gypsy moths, brown-tail moths, May beetles, 

 rose-chafers, wire worms, cucumber and potato beetles; also snails, 

 thousand-legged worms, and sow bugs. The quantity of injurious 

 species destroyed forms 62 per cent of its total food. Should ants be 

 included as injurious, as many housekeepers would think proper, this 

 figure would be increased to 81 pei' cent. These figures, derived from 

 careful examinations, show the toad to be a highly beneficial animal 

 and well entitled to man's protection in every possible way. 



THE TOAD'S CAPACITY FOR GOOD. 



The amount of food consumed by the toad is remarkable. Else- 

 where records have been given of finding 77 thousand-legged worms 

 in one otomach, 37 tent caterpillars in another, 65 gypsy moth cater- 

 pillars in a third, and 55 armj^ worms in a fourth. Under the writer's 

 direction, 24 medium-sized gypsy moth caterpillars were fed to a toad 

 under observation before its appetite was appeased, while Mr. F. H. 

 Mosher fed over 30 full-grown celery caterpillars to another in less 

 than three hours. Doctor Hodge has seen a toad "snap up 86 house 

 flies in less than ten minutes," while he has also published an inter- 

 esting observation b}^ Ellen M. Foskett, Worcester, Mass., who fed 

 90 rose bugs to a toad without satisfying its appetite. 



The number of insects a toad consumes in a season is conjectural. 

 The writer is satisfied that the amount of food taken in twenty-four 

 hours amounts to about four times the stomach capacity. In cold 

 weather this figure would be lower, while in midsummer, when insect 

 life is at its height, the quantity would probably be larger. A typical 

 stomach examination as taken from the writer's notes is given below. 



Specimen 43, taken 9 p. m. May 11, 1896: 



Per cent by bulk. 



6 cutworms 50 



5 thousand-legged worms 20 



6 sow bugs 20 



9 ants 6 



1 weevil 2 



1 ground beetle 2 



On the basis of the above data the amount of food consumed in cer- 

 tain periods would stand as follows: 



196 



