16 



Lisecta. We now come to the most interesting phase 

 of the whole qnestion of the economic vahie of the toad, 

 a consideration of the insect food. Insects constitute 

 ,sevent3'-seven per cent of the total food for the season 

 and the natural orders represented contribute the fol- 

 lowing percentages : Orthoptera, three per cent ; Hymen- 

 optera, nineteen per cent ; Coleoptera, twenty-seven 

 J^uisa ^tri'sthi'. per Cent ; Lepidoptera, twenty-eight ])er cent. A few 

 Hemiptera and Diptera were found, but these taken together do not 

 form one per cent of the whole food. 



Fig. 2. The German Roacli, lilutta germanica. 



Orthoptera were found in the stomachs thi'onghout the season, 

 reaching their maximum in September when they formed eight per 

 cent of the food for the month. The common cricket, Gryllus luctu- 

 osiiH Serv., and the cockroach, Blatta germanica Fab., were 

 frequently recognized in the stomach contents. The value of the 

 toad as a destroyer of roaches has been commented on by Mr. W. W. 

 Meecli in Insect Life, Vol. 1, page 341, where it is stated that the 

 toad " will clear your room of cockroaches over night just as he will 

 your garden of the vilest of your insect foes." The species identi- 

 fied are more or less injurious and the three per cent of Orthoptera 

 consumed by the toad should be placed to its credit. 



The Wingless Grasshopper, Ceii- 

 tltophi/us macula t IIS. 



