94 LETTERS TO MARCO xiv 



cells ; but at the end of the second year 

 none had survived, and in those cases 

 where the fastening was not quite perfect 

 the toad itself had been devoured by insects 

 of some sort. 



Toads, I imagine, wander about at night, 

 and feed chiefly then, and the numbers of 

 flattened dead ones that are seen in country 

 roads in the summer time are no doubt 

 unfortunate toads which have been run 

 over or trodden on during their night 

 prowls. I send you a sketch I made from 

 one of the toads in my greenhouse ; he 

 has now disappeared for the winter, but in 

 the summer I feed him for the amusement of 

 my friends. I place a woodlouse near him ; 

 he takes no notice of a dead one, and never 

 attacks a living one as long as it is perfectly 

 still, but the instant it moves he darts out 

 his long tongue, on the end of which the 

 creature disappears down his throat with an 

 instantaneous rapidity that is quite startling, 

 his mouth shutting with a slight click, and 



