THE AMPHIBIA 307 



The results of a campaign of education are well shown by an 

 experiment carried on by Professor Hodge at Worcester, Mass. 

 Professor Hodge reports as follows : — 



" While walking once around a small pond I counted 200 toads 

 dead or mangled and struggling in the water, and learned next 

 day that two boys had killed 300 more, carrying them off in an 

 old milk can to empty on a man's doorstep. This 500 does not 

 represent probably one tenth of the number killed by the chil- 

 dren that spring (1897) around this one pond. A ' civilization ' 

 in which such abuses of nature are possible ought to be eaten 

 alive by insects, and something must be fundamentally wrong 

 with a system of public education that does not render such a 

 thing impossible. My first impulse was to get a law passed and 

 appeal to the police, but the wiser counsel of a friend prevailed, 

 and I was induced to try education of the children instead. 

 Accordingly, a prize of $10 was offered to the Worcester school 

 child who would make the best practical study of the ' Value of 

 the Common Toad.' This was offered March 31, 1898, and 

 there was no evidence that a single toad was harmed at the pond 

 the following April and May. I would have been well satisfied 

 bad such a result been attained in five years. The fact that it 

 came within thirty days reveals the possibility of nature study 

 when united to human interest." 



The Economic Importance of Amphibia. — Only certain frogs, 

 toads, and salamanders are abundant enough to be of any par- 

 ticular economic importance. These, however, are probably 

 without exception mostly beneficial because of the injurious 

 insects and other animals they destroy. The common toad is 

 the most beneficial of all, but others are also valuable. 



Besides their importance as destroyers of insect pests certain 

 amphibians, especially bullfrogs, are eagerly sought as an article 

 of food. In certain states attempts have been made to prevent 

 the wholesale destruction of frogs, and some efforts have been 

 made to carry on frog " farming," but these have not been very 

 successful in close quarters because the frogs eat each other, and 



