AMPHIBIA 207 



frogs prefer moist places, but the toads seek a dry habitat 

 in yards and gardens 

 where they are of great 

 service in destroying 

 flies, slugs, and noxious 

 insects. One hundred 

 and forty-nine toad 

 stomachs examined by 

 Kirkland showed three 

 fourths of the food to 

 consist of insects of 

 which one fourth were 

 cutworms and tent cat- 

 erpillars. The stomach 



Of Olie toad Contained FlG 241 ._ Larva of Amblystoma and of the 

 fifty-five army WOrms ^ r g three months old. Photograph natural 



and that of another 



thirty-seven tent caterpillars. Bufo lentigenosus is the 



only species of toad east of the Rocky Mountains. 



Gymnophiona 



The members of this order are tailless and limbless 

 forms, living in Southern India, Southern Africa, and Cen- 

 tral and South America. They are covered with scales, 

 and in other ways resemble snakes. 



The breeding habits of the majority of the amphibians 

 are similar. The eggs are usually deposited in the water, 

 but the congo snake protects hers beneath a log or stone, 

 while a South American frog, Pipa, carries the eggs im- 

 bedded in the skin of the back. The eggs of most of the 



