TOADS AND FROGS 



that one can hardly see what happens. You 

 have to watch very carefully to see the 

 lightning-like flash of the tongue, sticking to 

 the end of which the grub disappears into the 

 toad's wide mouth. Toads, and likewise frogs, 

 have a most peculiar tongue ; instead of being 

 fastened like ours with the root down the 

 throat, it is attached to the front of the mouth, 

 and when not in use the long and flexible end 

 lies down the gullet. It is a long extension 

 affair, and can be shot out of the mouth with 

 surprising quickness. The tip is coated with a 

 wet sticky stuff, so any small thing which the 

 toad strikes with its tongue sticks to the end 

 and is drawn back into the mouth. When a 

 toad or frog sees a fly, small worm, woodlouse, 

 beetle, or other insect, it shoots out its tongue 

 at it, seldom missing its object, for it has an 

 extraordinarily good aim, and in less time than 

 it takes to tell is chewing the insect up. The 

 whole thing is done so quickly that the eye 

 can hardly follow the lightning flash of the 

 tongue, and the grubs that thus fall victims 

 are in the toad's wide mouth before they know 

 that an enemy is near. Insect after insect 

 does the toad capture in his nightly round, 

 many of which would have done much harm 



101 



