138 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 
standing by the side of a ditch in the fens, which leans in, 
three feet and a half from the ground, two inches out of the 
perpendicular. ‘There is a small, hollow place in the stem, 
one inch deep and two inches wide, and growing wider all 
the way from the ground until it is lost. On this tree, three 
feet and a half from the ground, I sugar for moths, and on 
several nights a large toad has ascended the tree to the 
sugar: it always sils quietly on the trunk, but I never find it 
on any other tree, although there are several in the neigh- 
bourhood, all of them ash. I believe the object is to take the 
moths as they come to the sugar. I have called the men at 
the railway bridge, which crosses the river near the spot, and 
one of these men the other night took it down, but it was 
there again in half an hour. 1 never find any moths on the 
tree if the toad is there—Walliam Winter.” I have long 
been familiar with the habit of moths to fall off the sugar in a 
fit of intoxication: my friend Mr. Doubleday has often spoken 
to me of having observed toads waiting for moths under his 
own sugarings at Epping. Iam surprised Mr. Corbin has not 
two other sweet-toothed visitors to the sugar,—the longtailed 
field-mouse and a common ground-beetle, an insect, as I said 
before, much addicted to a “diet of worms :” one can scarcely 
imagine any similarity between the taste of worms and 
centipedes and that of rum and treacle. Entomologists 
always speak of the field-mouse as the “ dor-mouse”—I think 
an evident error. Perhaps | may mention, in connection 
with this subject, two other kinds of insect-food for which the 
toad has a decided leaning: in the first instance this weak- 
ness may be called beneficial to man; in. the second, 
prejudicial. The first is the gooseberry-grub (Nematus 
ventricosus); the second the honey-bee (Apis mellifica). 
The penchant of the toad for the gooseberry-grub was first 
noticed by Mr. Leadbitter, of Gray’s Inn, who often observed 
the abundance of the grub on some currant-trees nailed 
against a garden-wall at Dorking. Mr. Leadbitter proceeds 
thus :—“ Perceiving at the same time a toad, sitting quietly in 
a corner at no great distance, it occurred to me to try if he 
would eat them. Accordingly, having collected a large 
quantity of grubs, I presented him with one at the end of a 
short stick, and was much pleased to see him put out his 
long tongue, draw the caterpillar in, and devour it greedily. 
fakes Gens Ad eh 
