TROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS' CLUB. 97 



Do Toads Eat Bees? 



A bec-kccper in Brooklyn beg-ins a conununicalion with tlic above ques- 

 tion, lie says: 



" While transfeniiii;- a swarm of bees, I observed a toad snap np one or 

 two of them whieh were on the ground. Tlio same animal domiciled near 

 the swarm placed in the garden, and noticing his plump, portly appearance 

 and fearing he was fattening on my bees, I determined to offer him a 

 sacrifice to science. Well, 1 slaughtered and dissected him, or rather dis 

 sected him first, as ho refused to die, even wlum cut in pieces. His stomach 

 was an interesting* sight lor a naturalist ; but 1 will remark in his favor 

 that not a single bee, or part of a bee, did I find. The contents were two 

 long, hiiiry catterpillars, numerous heads and parts of beetles ; but the bulk 

 was made up of a sort of cabbage beetle, or flea, jet black, of small size, 

 with a hard shell. I had noticed them very abundant on my cabbages and 

 turnips. Finding* so many noxious insects, I regretted his destruction, but 

 to atone, I have collected a whole family of toads and am bringing them 

 np with g'reat care, giving- them the best garden culture." 



This proves what we have so often asserted, that the toad was one of the 

 farmer's best friends, and as such we protected him and taught our child- 

 ren to do so ; and we have tried many times to convince farmers of this 

 fact, and that the}' should give the toads the " best kind of g-arden culture," 

 and we should have still continued to urge them to do so, if our friend had 

 found the evidence in the stomach of the cne he dissected, that toads do eat 

 bees. We have often heard that they do, but have always enjoyed a 

 doubt. We have also heard that the King bird eats bees, but it did not 

 make us an enemy to him, because it has been frequently proved that he 

 only ate the drones. We dare say it is the same with the toad. And now, 

 speaking' of bees, we have a question to ask : 



Do the bees gather their great store of honey from fiowers ? 



We doubt it — we have always doubted it. We are sitting now as we 

 write under the branches of a chestnut tree, among the leaves of which the 

 bees are buzzing merrily. They are not after the flowers, for the liowering' 

 season has long since passed. It is mid August ; the burs are an inch 

 and a-half in diameter. What ai;e the bees after ? Not the chestnut burs, 

 surel}'. We have just examined and solved the question. The leaves are 

 covered with " honey dew," and we have observed in every good season for 

 honey, that this substance was abundant. And so we have observed in 

 seasons when there was no " honey-dew," that everybody said "what a 

 poor season for liono}- !" Now we close with a repetition of the question, 

 " Do the bees gather their great store of honey front flowers ? 



A New Caterpillar Pest. 



Mr. A. J. Traver, Lisburn, Cumberland Co., Pa., gives the followiuff 

 description of a new kind of caterpillar : "It first made its appeariince in 

 our section about two years ago ; it has now become a te'rril)le pest ; it is 

 a small worm with long hair, green body, with bright yellow and black 

 spots, and cjuite unlike the old variety that tised to infest apple orchards, 

 but have now disappeared. They appear upon all kinds of fruits and 

 [Aic. Inst. J G 



