184 REPTILES AND AMPHIBIA 



and lots of rats at the station buildings not far away, and I think that these 

 were probably the cause of the disappearance of the Toads, especially as 

 the land surrounding the swamp was eaten bare by horses, so that the 

 toads would find very little cover when they were travelling hi search 

 of food at night. 



I got a couple of glass-cases made, and in one of these I put a male 

 and a female, which I kept for a couple of years, while Mrs Chambers 

 had the remaining three in the other. They were fed on flies, which were 

 eaten in great numbers. On one occasion we gave a "Maori bug" to one 

 of them, and its disgust after swallowing it was very amusing. Being well 

 fed they frequently changed their skins. Also being kept in the house, 

 they never became torpid, but fed freely all the winter. But they never 

 showed any signs of breeding. Ultimately Mrs Chambers turned her 

 specimens out in the same place as the others ; while my pair were allowed 

 to escape during my absence for a short time in 1895. 



The discrepancy in numbers between these two accounts is due 

 to the fact that both gentlemen were writing from memory, more 

 than 25 years after the events narrated, and that apparently neither 

 of them noted these events at the time. 



Considering the ease with which these animals were carried, and 

 their hardiness in confinement, it is rather remarkable that no other 

 attempts have been made to introduce them into New Zealand. 



