MONTANA EXPERIMENT STATION. 245 



this secretion is not objectionable to all animals is shown by the 

 fact that hawks, ow^s, etc., include toads in their fare. 



LENGTH OF LIFE OF THE TOAD. 



European literature gives authentic record of a toad that lived 

 36 years and was then killed by accident. Kirkland, in his paper al- 

 ready referred to, records the results of his inquiry into this inter- 

 esting matter in the following words : 



"Nearly every old New England homestead has one or more 

 semi-domesticated toads whose age can only be conjectured. The 

 writer has sought different parts of the state (Massachusetts) among 

 families who have long resided on the places they now occupy, for 

 some accurate information on this subject, and from a mass of state- 

 ments, given in many cases with strong corroboratory details, there 

 may be taken apparently veracious records of two toads that have 

 occupied dooryards in two different towns for twelve and twenty- 

 three years respectively. The histories of these toads have been 

 given me by people of unqustionable veracity, yet I hesitate to pre- 

 sent the records as facts, since from the evidence offered I cannot 

 feel positive that the identity of the toad in either case has remain- 

 ed unchanged. There can be but little doubt that toads live to a con- 

 siderably greater age than is supposed and we may hazard the 

 opinion that many of them reach an age of at least ten or fifteen 

 years." 



FEEDING HABITS. 



Particularly in the dry climate of Montana, toads are seldom 

 seen during the sun-lit hours of the day. That they occur here, 

 however, is known to all observing people.. In the spring of the 

 year they may be found in large numbers in ponds and pools. 



The toad takes only living, moving animal life as food. Dead 

 food is rejected. Motionless living food is likewise rejected as has 

 been observed by the writer and other authors. Insects that "play 

 'possum" and remain motionless are not taken by the toad. 



Unlike the tongue of most other vertebrates that possess this 

 organ, that of the toad is attached only at the anterior end where 

 it is fastened to the floor of the mouth. It is coated with an adhesive 

 substance that causes insects to adhere when touched bv it. Bv a 



b 



