THE SPADE-FOOT TOAD. 187 



the water these young spade-foots found some food, as 

 shown by the examination of the stomachs and intestines 

 of several specimens. Dr. A. C. Stokes kindly made 

 this examination, at my request, and reported as follows : 

 In the stomach of one was found fragments of a fly and 

 of a small moth, and in the intestine a mass of sand grains 

 cemented together by dark brown amorphous matter, 

 with numerous rhizopods (Arcella) and several diatoms. 

 In the stomach of another a species of Thrips, and a few 

 diatoms in the intestine. 



These two specimens had been thirty-six hours out of 

 the water when the examination was made. But if my 

 friend did not find much food in the stomachs of the lit- 

 tle spade-foots, he did find an abundance of microscop- 

 ical life. Let him tell us about it in his own words : 



"While making a microscopical examination of the 

 intestinal and stomach contents of young spade-foot 

 hermit toads, I observed two forms of apparently un- 

 described endoparasitic Infusoria so crowding the rectum 

 that it seemed only a thin-walled tube surrounding a 

 semi-solid, writhing mass which, viewed with a low 

 power objective, brought to mind the idea of a shimmer- 

 ing cloud of heated air, or a wavering flame of color- 

 less fire, through which here and there glistened a yel- 

 low spark. 



" The rectum of toads and frogs has long been a kind 

 of happy-hunting-ground for endoparasites, especially 

 for the Opalinse; but so far as I am aware only colorless 

 species of the genus have been observed. In this in- 

 stance, however, the yellow points within that living mass 

 proved to be Opalinse of a lemon-yellow tint. The 



