15 



is shown by the experience of the well-known authoress, Celia Thaxter, 

 who at one time found her beautiful gardens at the Isles of Shoals 

 overrun by insects and snails. A considerable number of toads were 

 imported from the mainland, with the result that in a short time the 

 pests were suppressed and the flowers preserved from harm. 



A better plan is to provide a breeding place for toads and carry them 

 to it at the mating time, so that later in the season the young toads 

 leaving the water may establish themselves in the locality. A shallow 

 pool having a small but constant water supply is all that is needed. 

 Stagnant rather than running water is desirable, since the growths in 

 which the tadpoles feed do not develop so well where there is a cur- 

 rent. Further, the stagnant pools usually have a higher temperature, 

 thus favoring the growth of the tadpoles. Against this plan may be 

 urged the breeding of mosquitoes in such pools, and under some cir- 

 cumstances this objection may prove an important one. It is entirely 

 possible, however, that the tadpoles would keep down the mosquito 

 larvae, and in any case the young toads will leave the water by mid- 

 summer or before the mosquitoes become abundant, when the pools 

 may be drained. 



It is always well to provide artificial shelters for toads in gardens. 

 These are easily made by digging shallow holes and partially covering 

 them with a board or flat stone. Toads will use these shelters for 

 weeks, sallying forth by night and returning at daybreak. Green- 

 house owners will find toads particularly useful as destroyers of snails, 

 sow bugs, weevils, and other injurious forms of animal life. The 

 well-known entomologist, Dr. Ritzema Bos, writes: " In the research 

 garden of the Rouen entomological laboratory the snails were entirely 

 exterminated in 1891 as a result of introducing 100 toads and 90 frogs." 

 At Maiden, Mass., a collection of valuable orchids were severely injured 

 through the attacks of myriapods and sow bugs. On the writer's advice 

 a number of toads were introduced and all damage from this cause soon 

 ceased. Many other cases where the toad may be made useful will 

 suggest themselves. The common greenhouse rose weevil (Fuller's 

 beetle) can doubtless be controlled in greenhouses by aid of toads, 

 particularly if the beetles be jarred from the bushes at occasional 

 intervals. 



THE STUDY OF THE TOAD. 



"Go to the ant, thou sluggard," was Solomon's dictum. One may 

 find profit and pleasure in studying any of the common forms of ani- 

 mal life, but few offer a more attractive field than the subject of this 

 paper. Abundant everywhere, harmless, easy to obtain and rear, 

 the toad is one of the best objects for class-room work in nature study. 

 A small aquarium and a pair of toads or a mass of toad's eggs are 

 all that are required. Let the aquarium be of glass, earthenware, or 



196 



