126 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW 115:4— Apr., 1919 



toes and then grow bigger and stronger. His hind legs show first 

 as they bud out on each side at the base of the tail, but his front 

 legs are growing, folded up under the skin near his throat. When 

 they are ready, first the left one comes out the spiracle, then the 

 right one breaks through the skin. While this is happening, we 

 have first a little animal with two hind legs, then one with four legs 

 and a tail. Next, his tail must disappear, for no grown-up toad 

 can have a tail. So his legs grow stronger, and his tail grows 

 shorter. It seems to shrink back into his body in only two or three 

 days. The little tadpole's blood and lymph, as they flow out into 

 the tail, carry tiny particles back into the body until the tail is gone. ' 

 This furnishes strength to the little "tad" just as food would do, 

 so that during these few days, he needn't hunt for food, but can 

 often rest almost out of the water at the shore of the pond, or can 

 sit on a floating leaf or twig and dream about the journey he is 

 soon to take. 



All these changes must take place quickly for the little tadpole 

 that came out the egg about May i, must be ready to leave the 

 water by the Fourth of July, or even sooner if the weather is very 

 warm. There are many smaller tadpoles that may not be ready to 

 leave until August. Long before this, most of the big toads go 

 back to their gardens to hunt insects. By the time the tadpoles 

 are ready to leave, the pond may be much smaller, almost dried up 

 in fact, but the ground around the pond will often be so crowded 

 with tiny hopping toads that it looks black as if covered with a 

 mass of crickets. The tiny toads are only about half an inch long, 

 much smaller you see than when they were tadpoles. Yet each 

 little toad feels very grown up and is ready to sit in a shady spot 

 and watch for insects. They must look for shady spots, for if they 

 staid in a hot dusty place, they would soon dry up. Toads drink 

 water by absorbing it right through their skins, and that is why 

 they like so well to hop around in the rain. Little toads often 

 leave the pond on a rainy day. And just because so many little 

 toads travel together on some showery summer day, people have 

 told the queer story that they rained down from the sky. We 

 know better. Perhaps these little toads started yesterday on their 

 journey to find a new home, and then the bright sun came out and 

 made them hunt for a shady crack or comer. Then as the first 

 drops of rain hit their dry skins, out they came to go further on 



