100 



aquatic Hilt 



papilla surrounds the eyes, which are 

 exceedingly small. Teeth are absent. The 

 skin above is finely shagreened, while 

 below it is smooth and of a silky texture. 

 The "arms" and "hands" are slender, 

 with long, delicate fingers, each of which 

 is tipped with a star-shaped appendage. 

 The legs are long, thick and very muscu- 

 lar. The long toes are webbed to the 

 pointed tips, and when the web is spread 

 the toes curve inward, the foot thus some- 

 what resembling an open umbrella. 



The aquatic life of this creature has 

 resulted in a peculiar specialization of 

 structure, which is evidenced by the very 

 much flattened body, loss of tongue, eye- 

 lids and teeth, uniting of the eustachian 

 tubes of the ear into a single opening in 

 the rear of the mouth, and eyes looking 

 up instead of to each side. The skeleton 

 is also peculiar in being composed of only 

 seven vertebras. The diapophyses or 

 "wings" of the sacral vertebrae are broad- 

 ened enormously, serving to prevent any 

 sidewise movement of the backbone, and 

 thus stiffening the whole body. 



The color above is a dirty sepia brown 

 or dark gray, without markings. Below 

 it is dirty white, often with a black cross, 

 the long arms of which extend the length 

 of the body, and the short ones across 

 the chest. There may be numerous 

 brown spots on the belly, and the males 

 are usually iron-gray underneath, with 

 large whitish patches, but without the 

 cross. 



These toads, when lifted from the 

 water, emit a loud, deep moan. When 

 coming to the surface voluntarily they 

 protrude their head entirely, breathe long 

 and deep, and sink to the bottom again 

 with a sighing sound. These sounds, in 

 addition to a peculiar ticking noise which 

 the males often make under water at 

 night, are all I have observed in this 

 species. 



I don't believe the Surinam toad ever 



leaves the water voluntarily, though it 

 may burrow under mud and debris on 

 the bottoms of ponds and creeks which 

 sometimes dry up completely. This it 

 does in order to aestivate, a summer rest 

 period which corresponds to the hiber- 

 nation, or winter rest, of our. local species. 



Father Explodes 

 a Theory 



Did I tell you about Mother and the 

 goldfish ? Well, you see, in December, 

 when it became a little cool, Mother con- 

 tracted a bad cold, and so Father bundled 

 her off to Florida with Betty and Mary, 

 and they did not come back until the end 

 of last month. Just about a month before 

 they went away Mother, who is very fond 

 of pets, had bought some goldfish, and it 

 was her delight to watch them. And every 

 morning and evening they would come 

 swimming up to the top of the bowl, 

 searching for the food which she scat- 

 tered on the water's surface for them. 

 While Mother and the daughters were 

 away the little fish all died, but Father 

 was not to be conquered by that, and so 

 the day before the family's return he 

 hied him downtown and bought a whole 

 new set of fish. 



Well, Mother had scarcely been home 

 more than an hour before she wanted to 

 see her clear little fishies. Upstairs they 

 all trooped and Mother gazed lovingly at 

 the fish, and as the glinting little things 

 swam up to the top she smiled tenderly, 

 and, turning to Father, murmured, "See, 

 see ; they know me, dear." — Nancy 

 Wynne, in the Philadelphia Evening 

 Ledger. 



The point of view depends upon which 

 is you your side of the fence. 



What a delightful world this would be 

 if it were possible to size a man up by 

 his opinion of himself. 



