144 



THE AMEitlCAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



DO TOADS EAT WORKER BEES ? 



Some days ago, when carrying several nuclei to my 

 cellar to test the Kohler iirocess, some worker bees 

 dropped on the sand. A large toad issuing from a dark 

 corner of the cellar came within an inch and a half of 

 the lirst hoe, stopped a second or two, and the poor bee 

 disappeared down his throat. Then it hastened to the 

 second, which was dispatchetl in the same way. So 

 likewise the third, and Anally the fourth anil last. Had 

 I not seen the toad's mouth opened and closed I should 

 not have known where the bees had gone, so rajiid was 

 the motion of the viscous tongue. 'Seeing there was 

 nothing more now to devour, the toad returned to his 

 dark corner as gravely as he had come . 



That toad is well known to the inmates of my family, 

 having for months cleared the cellar of all flies," spiders, 

 and otlrer insects, and has thus come to be regarded in 

 the light of a friend . 



Last year, while digging a trench near my apiary for 

 wintering my bees, we uncovered more tlian a dozen 

 such toads which had already retired to winter quar- 

 ters. But if I encounter any this year I shall destroy 

 them without mercy. I advise other bee keepers to do 

 the same. Oil. Dadant. 



Hamilton', III. , Sept. .5, 38GS. 



We doubt whether toads should be thus summarily 

 doomed without a hearing. They may and probably do 

 ' ' gobble up " a few workers in the course of a sum- 

 mer; but rarely have they a chance to seize any except 

 the crippled, diseased, and disowned, which had better 

 be suddenly consigned to the cajjacious stomach of a 

 toad than die a lingering death by starvation . There 

 have been dozens of toads in our apiary, year after 

 year, and we regarded them as beneficial on the whole — 

 ridding the grounds of spiders, millipedes, ants, and va- 

 rious kinds of bugs and larvte quite as " ugly and ven- 

 omous," and needing some such natural enemy to pre- 

 vent their undue increase. — American Jjee Journal. 



To the above remarks upon Mr. Dadanf s let- 

 ter, by the Editors of the Bee Journal, the Edi- 

 tors of the American" Entomologist liave to 

 add, that toads are upon the whole decidedly 

 beneficial to the cultivator of the soil, and should 

 be protected. If, however, as the Bee Journal 

 and Mr. Dadant assert, they devour spiders, 

 they are, so far as that propensity goes, injuri- 

 ous ; for all spiders without exception are canni- 

 bals and prey largely upon insects, and chietiy 

 upon the plant-feeding or injurious species. 

 Again : the millipedes properly so called are 

 some few of them, (genus JifZ««), injurious by 

 feeding upon the roots of plants, the rest of 

 them living upon dead organic matter. There- 

 fore, if toads eat millipedes {Chilognatha) 

 they are blameless. But all the centipedes, 

 {Syngnatha) which may be distinguished from 

 the true millipedes by running very fast, in- 

 stead of crawling along like a fly in a glue- 

 pot — are cannibals ; and as they live under- 

 ground and prey upon those most unmanageable 

 of all the multitudinous foes of the farmer, the 

 subterranean root-feeding larvae, should be sed- 

 ulously cherished and protected. Therefore, if 

 toads should eat centipedes, they do wrong. On 

 the other hand — for there are no perfect and an- 

 gelic reptiles, any more than there are perfect and 

 angelic men and women — toads are particularly 

 fond of strawberries. Even Dr.Trimble, the State 



Entomologist of S^ew Jersey, Avho cannot find it 

 in his benevolent heart to make war upon any 

 living animal possessed of a backbone (Verte- 

 brata), and who even pleads the cause of those 

 unmitigated pests of the fruit-grower, the Cedar- 

 bird and the Baltimore Oriole, candidly owns 

 up that a toad may sometimes be seen devour- 

 ing a strawberry.* But even if toads swept 

 away whole acres of strawberries and depopu- 

 lated entire apiaries, that is no reason Avhy those, 

 who grow neither strawberries nor bees, sliould 

 exterminate them in the usual tmmerciful man- 

 ner. 



We confess to a sneaking kindness for the 

 Toad. He is a sober quiet philosophical gentle- 

 man, not disturbing our nervous systems by 

 jumping wildly with a noisy splurge into the near- 

 est pond or pool, but pursuing the even tenor of 

 his way at that slow and decorous and moderate 

 pace, which Cicero thought to be the only one 

 that became the fine old Roman gentleman. Be- 

 sides, like every other animal when it is healthy 

 and in the prime of life, the toadis really handsome. 

 Take him up with your thumb and finger, mad- 

 am, grasping him just behind the head — you 

 need not be afraid of him — he cannot hurt you, 

 even if he was so inclined. Now examine his 

 eye ; and if you have a jewel about your person 

 that is more brilliant and displays a more taste- 

 fal arrangement of colors, you are a fortunate 

 woman. Beyond all doubt it must have been 

 to the eye of the Toad, and not to any supposed 

 internal mineral, that Shakspeare referred when 

 be asserted of that reptile that 



He bears a i)recious jewel in his head. 



Once more we repeat that the Toad, as a gen- 

 eral rule, should be protected and spared, and 

 when possible purposely introduced into gar- 

 dens. Make his acquaintance; and you will 

 find that, as with certain classes of men popu- 

 larly known as "rough diamonds,'" the more 

 you get to know of him the better you will like 

 him. 



' Trimble's Frnit-inscot-s, p. 74. 



Errata in No. 6. — On page lOi, line 20 of 

 note, for " one-tliird of the way," read " two- 

 thirds of the way." On page 108, column 1, 

 line 1.5 from bottom, for "Early in the spring," 

 read " Early in June." Same page, column 2, 

 line 8 from bottom, for "Early in the spring" 

 read " Towards the end of INtay." On page 114, 

 column 2, line 20, for " Some markings" read 

 " Some yellowish markings." Ou page 118, 

 column 2, line 20 from bottom, for "flower- 

 hunting," read " flower-haunting." 



