ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST. 



207 



Gjicloptilum squamosum, | '^Sgl^jfati Hitt.\ 'J-'®^"'- 

 „ , . . . ( Scudd., Re». Foss. Crich. \ 

 ^capfericusrjmniis.J, ^^ pi. l f. 4.23. 



,F,,,„,;,.. ,.\„;, ..,,..-, \Valk..'r.//. I'.n,.,/. ' 



Cent. Am. 



slightly longer Ihaii l>ru.,.l, i..., 

 testaceous; two lonyituilui:il I 

 disk. Ventral segment^ lil;iik 

 little shorter than tlie alHl.mu n 

 black, very slender; fort' tiliia 

 cavated on the inner s-iiir u' ai 

 testaceous toward thi' ha^c; liii 

 spines on the outer sidr. and 

 Fore wings einerous. exti n.liiiL 

 men, regularly reticiilatril : lu'' 

 oblique branches. Hind « iiu- 

 the lore wings. Lcnutli "l I" 

 Preseute.l liy K. Douljl.-.la> . i:-i" 



I gi\e this in tj-fenso tor the Ot'uetlt of our Western 

 Entomologists, who may not us yet have received 

 Walker's Catalogue. 



A GOOD WORD FOR THE TOAD. 



Mr. Riley: I was much interested iu some 

 extracts from " Fogt's Book on Noxious and 

 Beneficial Animals," in your Januar.v number, 

 and am induced to send you my own experience 

 as another proof of the intelligence of toads. 



Loving flowers, even when a child, with that 

 love which makes a happiness of labor and 

 patient waiting, my earliest possession was a 

 small flower garden. I liad been told that 

 toads were very useful in a garden, and conse- 

 quently transferred them, as they were occa- 

 sionally found, to my own especial domain, 

 which happened to be enclosed by a low brick 

 wall and paling fence. 



Although my toads seemed none of them 

 afraid of me, I soon fancied that one of them 

 followed me about my flower borders; and, 

 watching carefully, I found my fancy to be a 

 truth. My toad grew more and more attentive 

 with time, and I frequently talked to him as he 

 seemed watching my labors, and sometimes he 

 would hop immediately where I was digging, 

 then I quietly lifted him on one side with my 

 trowel, saying: "Tom, you are in my way." 



One day I threw some sweet crumbs that 

 were iu my pocket towards him, aud was much 

 amused to see him catch them before they fell 

 to the ground. You will readily suppose that 

 after this "Tom Toad" was very liberally fed. 

 He grew fast, and his skin became very glossy, 

 and the spots very brilliant ; and I soon found 

 that he not only knew my voice, but also my 

 step. " My pet" became quite the jest of the 

 neighborhood, aud it was a common thing for 

 my friends to sit upon the steps leading to the 



house, for me to call "Tom," and see him come 

 hopping from some secluded place to catch his 

 crumbs. 



The windows of tlie basement opened on to 

 my garden, and as the servant girls would be 

 ironing by the windows, the toad often hopped 

 in to watch their labors. They always bore the 

 call quietly, unless he hopped upon the table or 

 into the clothes basket, when the screams were 

 loud for me to "come and take care of my bird." 

 And thus, for about six years, Tom was made 

 as comfortable and happy as a toad could be. 



He always burrowed his winter quarters for 

 hibernation in one place — directly by the kitchen 

 window — and in early spring, as the weather 

 grew warmer, the earth would gradually loosen 

 and heave up over his back, and all at once he 

 would hop forth. I did not particularly notice 

 his condition, but for a day his movements were 

 rather sluggish. I sometimes used to uncover 

 him when he had come very near the surface, 

 and tell him it was "time to get up;" and I 

 dug away once to see how far he went down for 

 his winter nap, and found the hole about a foot 

 deep. 



But at last, when I was about to leave home 

 for a long term at school, it was insisted that 

 " Tom "• must be carried away, they were so 

 senselessly afraid of him, and I carried him 

 tenderly to a beautiful spot, by our beautiful 

 river, and said "good-bye." I never saw my 

 toad again, aud have never had such healthy 

 rose bushes since. 



Not long ago, I was telling of my toad to a 

 friend, when he said that "one day he observed 

 a toad in his garden alwavs hopping in his way. 

 He impaled a fly aud held it to the Toad, who 

 snapped it off from th^ stick in an instant. 

 Daily, for quite a length of time, he amused 

 himself with feeding the toad, until once, in 

 mischief, he held to it a bee, and he thinks the 

 bee stung the Toad, for it would never again 

 notice him. E. U. B. 



Bar Mills, Minn. 



Insect-s Borin(; Liquor-ca.sks.— There is a 

 very small species of wood-boring beetle, known 

 as the Tomicus monographus, which has lor a 

 number of years past been very destructive iu 

 India to casks containing malt liquors, ftlore 

 than one million of the small perforations made 

 by this insect have been observed in one stave. 

 Dealers iu malt liquors suffer greatly from these 

 pests, and are anxious to discover a preventive. 

 This borer has lately been examined by British 

 entomologists, who are endeavoring to ascertain 

 whether this in.sect feeds on the oak staves for 

 the liquor they contain, or because they are 

 really fond of oak wood. — Hearth and Home. 



