28o 



NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 



in the water, rising to the surface, for the toads to rest 

 on. Some boy or girl may volunteer to secure the entire 

 laying of a pair of toads to show the school, and it might 

 be interesting to count or estimate the number. Toad 

 spawn is distinguished from that of frogs and salaman- 

 ders by the fact that it is laid in strings or " ropes," the 

 eggs lying in single rows inclosed in a transparent jelly. 

 They are about the size of a small pin head at first, black 



above and light below ; 

 as they float they look 

 like strings of black 

 beads. It may stagger 

 the class to believe that 

 a toad can lay a mass of 

 eggs eight or ten times 

 as large as its whole 

 body, — as though a hen 

 were to lay an egg the 

 size of a bushel basket. 

 This mystery is ex- 

 plained by the swelling 

 of the jelly on contact with the water. But the number 

 of eggs is almost incredible. Layings of four toads con- 

 tained, respectively, 7587 and 11,545 (counted), and 8000 

 and 9500 (estimated). This number is laid in a few hours, 

 generally at night ; and then, quitting the water, the parents 

 probably return to the same gardens whence they came. 

 Beginning with the egg, the most interesting part of the 

 toad's life story may be read in its reality by occasional 

 observations in the ponds and by taking a few eggs home 

 or to the schoolroom to watch their development from 



Fig. 115. Eggs laid by a Toau 

 The glass dish is nine inches in diameter. 

 Number of eggs, 9500 (estimated) 



