MONTANA EXPERIMENT STATION. 243 



virtue, as well as many other equally ludicrous qualities attributed 

 by the ancients of Europe to this harmless and humble animal, will 

 touch upon certain beliefs that are now current in this country. 



Perhaps the creation of the imaginpcion ih it is s^iven more cred- 

 ulity than any other, is, that to touch a I;oad Avill cause warts on 

 the hand. Other beliefs that have beer, lieid m this countrv, (we 

 hesitate to say that any of them are now lielcl) are, that t«) kill a 

 toad will produce bloody milk in cows; ihat a toad's breath wiil 

 cause convulsions in children ; that a toad in a newly dug well will 

 insure a good and unfailing supply m" \v;i<;er; ynd that a toad m a 

 new made cellar will bring prosper ii\- lo rhe hoi-sehold. 



No less absurd than the above are the statements 

 that we often see in the papers to the effect that some 

 particular section has been visited by toads that fell in 

 a recent storm in such numbers as to be very abundant 

 in the roads, on the sidewalks and over the entire surface of the 

 ground. While it may not be an e;itire impossibility for a toad 

 to be picked up by a tornado or C3^clone, no one would accredit such 

 an atmospheric condition with the power of selecting toads from 

 among the other equally movable objects, or if other objects were 

 taken into the upper air along with toads we might rationally predict 

 that both classes of objects would be deposited in the same places. 



The explanation of the occurrence of toads in noticeable num- 

 bers is usually to be found in the fact that they have either hatched 

 and grown to a suf^ficient size for migration in some nearby swamp 

 or pond, or that adult toads are on their way to or from such near- 

 by breeding places. It is well known that toads during the sunny 

 hours of the day seek protection under stones, boards, bridges, in 

 dense vegetation jr in the soft earth — in other words, moist, cool 

 locations. For a short time after a storm, when the air is cool and 

 the earth and vegetation are wet, the toads are known to venture 

 forth even at midday as they do in the cool twilight hours of the 

 evening and morning. 



LIFE HISTORY AND HABITS. 



The toad in common with other batrachians, and like reptiles, 

 spends the winter months in hibernation. In the early spring, when 



